Substantive rights have a core that can be meaningfully interpreted and protected; they can exist independently of a particular government or a particular legal system. Procedural rights lack such an ...

Recognizing the difference between substantive and procedural rights helps enormously in understanding the battles over applying the first eight amendments of the U.S. Constitution to the states.

Procedural due process ensures that the government follows fair methods, while substantive due process examines the content of government action itself, forbidding certain governmental intrusions ...