Definition
Procedural due process is the guarantee, drawn from the Due Process Clauses of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, that the government must follow fair procedures before it deprives a person of life, liberty, or property. It does not ask whether the government may take an action at all; it asks how the government must go about taking it.
At its core, procedural due process usually requires notice of the proposed action and an opportunity to be heard before a neutral decision-maker. The aim is accuracy and dignity: fair procedures reduce the risk of mistaken deprivations and treat affected people as participants rather than mere objects of state power.
Why it matters
How it works
A procedural due process claim has two steps. First, a court asks whether the government is depriving a person of a protected interest in life, liberty, or property. If so, the court then asks what process is due. The Supreme Court set the governing balance in Mathews v. Eldridge in 1976, weighing the private interest at stake, the risk of an erroneous deprivation and the value of additional safeguards, and the government interest, including the burden of extra procedures. More is required when the stakes are high and the risk of error is significant.