The Controversial Tiers of Judicial Scrutiny: Is It Time for the Supreme Court to Abandon Them?

Since the mid-20th century, American constitutional law has been dominated by a controversial method of constitutional analysis known as the tiers of scrutiny—strict scrutiny, intermediate scrutiny, and rational-basis review—positioning the Court to distinguish between protected and unprotected classes, and between strongly and weakly protected rights.

What were the origins of this method of constitutional analysis? Are the tiers of scrutiny grounded in the original meaning of the Constitution? How have they shaped American Constitutional law? Should the framework be abandoned? What should take its place? Join us for a balanced discussion, as we answers these questions and more, on this important and timely topic.