Constitutional Law: Substantive Due Process and Dobbs Analysis

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering legal methodology, precedents, and stare decisis factors discussed in the lecture transcript regarding Dobbs and fundamental rights.

Washington v. Glucksberg Test

The constitutional methodology used to evaluate whether an unenumerated substantive right is protected under the Due Process Clause based on whether the asserted liberty interest is deeply rooted in the nation's history and tradition.

Deeply Rooted in Tradition Methodology

A static approach to defining fundamental rights where the court frames the liberty interest narrowly and examines whether it was historically recognized and permitted at a specific point in time in American history.

Selective Incorporation

The constitutional doctrine through which liberty under the Fourteenth Amendment incorporates the first eight amendments of the Bill of Rights to apply against the states.

Griswold v. Connecticut

A precedent case involving contraception in which the Supreme Court framed the liberty interest broadly as a general right to privacy rather than narrowly assessing historical restrictions.

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

A decision that abandoned Roe's privacy rationale, re-grounding the abortion right in the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause, and replacing the trimester framework with the undue burden standard.

Undue Burden Standard

The regulatory standard established in Casey for pre-viability abortion restrictions, which the Dobbs majority declared to be unworkable.

Stare Decisis

The legal doctrine of respecting precedent, which the Supreme Court evaluated through five specific factors in Dobbs before overturning long-standing precedent.

Reliance Interest

A factor in stare decisis analysis regarding how individuals organize their lives around precedent; framed narrowly by the Dobbs majority as occurring only when a person seeks an abortion.

Chief Justice Roberts' Concurrence

An opinion concurring only in the judgment of Dobbs, which advocated discarding the viability line in favor of a reasonable opportunity test and practicing judicial restraint instead of fully reversing precedent.

Rational Basis Review

The default standard of judicial review applied to state regulations that do not touch upon a fundamental right, under which a law is presumed valid if rationally related to a legitimate state interest.