The Supreme Court heard arguments on Wednesday in a case involving Mississippi’s law banning pre-viability abortions after fifteen weeks.  For those not familiar with court terminology, here is a brief primer on the legal terminology that you might hear during coverage of this case.

SUBSTANTIVE DUE PROCESS & THE RIGHT TO PRIVACY

The Bill of Rights contains a rather extensive list of “enumerated” rights.  It also contains a catch-all provision in the Ninth Amendment.  Both the Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment contain a due process clause which forbids the denial of liberty without due process of law.  Over the years, the courts have had to deal with the limits of the rights contained in the Bill of Rights.  For example, the First Amendment expressly covers two forms of communication — oral (free speech) and written (free press).  But that leaves issues about other forms of expressive conduct (is dancing or painting speech) and whether press was limited to news or does it cover other written publications.  Similarly, there is debated about the due process clause — does it merely require appropriate proceedings (laws being properly passed, cases being properly head) before a person is deprived of their freedom (i.e. goes to prison) or does it also provide substantive protections against the passage of laws that eliminates rights. Continue Reading...