compelling state interest
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 357 U.S. 449 - National Association for Advancement of Colored People v. State of Alabama Patterson · 1958Most cited · 5,236 citing opinions
freedom of association
Such a 'subordinating interest of the State must be compelling' to justify governmental action carrying a deterrent effect on the free exercise of the right to associate
How the Supreme Court has restated “compelling state interest”
Each Supreme Court definition of “compelling state interest,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “compelling state interest”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “compelling state interest” — 12,279 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1958–1969
Any incidental burden on the free exercise of appellant's religion may be justified by a 'compelling state interest in the regulation of a subject within the State's constitutional power to regulate.' No showing merely of a rational relationship to some colorable state interest would suffice; in this highly sensitive constitutional area, '(O)nly the gravest abuses, endangering paramount interest, give occasion for permissible limitation.
if a challenged state statute grants the right to vote to some bona fide residents of requisite age and citizenship and denies the franchise to others, the Court must determine whether the exclusions are necessary to promote a compelling state interest