No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
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No person shall…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
Addresses which legal procedures are required
Evaluates whether a law can be applied
About Us
Michael Devereux is a highly respected civil rights attorney in Los Angeles. His vast experience, zealous advocacy for his clients and extensive knowledge of many areas of civil rights, including due process make Mr. Devereux an elite constitutional law attorney. Mr. Devereux started his own firm in 2004 after working for the Cochran Firm, and assisting with the Robert Blake and Michael Jackson defense teams under Thomas Mesereau. As the sole proprietor of Wexford Law, Mr. Devereux has been successfully representing clients for close to 20 years in respect to the constitutional law and civil rights. Former clients, their family and friends repeatedly return to Wexford Law for help in matters involving civil rights. Mr. Devereux loves taking on the federal government and the State of California in constitutional law matters.
The Due Process Clause is the Fifth Amendment and applied to the States in through the Fourteenth Amendment. The Due Process Clause provides that no government shall deprive any “person” of “life, liberty or property” without due process of law. Procedural due process, based on principles of “fundamental fairness,” addresses which legal procedures are required to be followed in proceedings. Substantive due process, although also based on principles of “fundamental fairness,” is used to evaluate whether a law can be applied legally at all, regardless of the procedure followed.
The due process clauses apply to both natural persons as well as to "legal persons" (that is, corporate personhood) as well as to individuals, including both citizens and non-citizens.
In many situations, some form of procedural due process is required. As an example, a government agency might terminate someone from a government job, send a defendant to prison, revoke a prisoner's parole, or cut someone's social security payments or other welfare benefits. Due process is the process that citizen's are entitled to for the protection of their rights. Procedural Due Process does not necessarily prohibit these actions, but it does require that certain procedures be followed before any action is taken.
Substantive due process refers to the Court's examination of the reasons why the government passed a law or otherwise acted in a manner denying a citizen or a group of citizens life, liberty, or property (regardless of the procedure the law provides). In many cases, such as when a law infringes upon a citizen's First Amendment rights, right to privacy, right to vote, or makes a racial or sexual classification, the Court requires the government to have a damn good reason or "compelling" reason for the law. The Court will "strictly scrutinize" the government's reasons and, in all likelihood, will strike the law down if the compelling reason isn't strong enough. In other cases, such as when the government enacts taxation or zoning laws, the personal rights involved are not as fundamental, and the Court will uphold the law as long as the government's motives are not arbitrary or irrational, thus a legitimate government interest is enough to pass this review called "rational basis."
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We have been very pleased with our experience with the Wex Law. Although we did not actually go to court, I felt that Mike was more than ready to fight his best for us. Our whole experience with all of the staff was very easy and enjoyable. Thank you for your work!
I am so glad we chose Wex Law firm to represent us. We were in a very bad legal situation. We were treated like family and were kept involved every step of the way. Thank you all who were involved in one way or other working our case!
Michael and his staff were great with making us feel comfortable during the process. They kept us updated on our case progress and were very helpful with all of the paperwork we needed to complete. We are very pleased with the outcome of everything.
Michael Devereux has authored several articles on Gun Rights including this one.
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