rational basis
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 348 U.S. 483 - Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. · 1955Most cited · 6,192 citing opinions
It is enough that there is an evil at hand for correction, and that it might be thought that the particular legislative measure was a rational way to correct it.
How the Supreme Court has restated “rational basis”
Each Supreme Court definition of “rational basis,” 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 “rational basis”
Court decisions citing the 5 opinions that defined “rational basis” — 13,854 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 5 definitions, chronological · 1937–1971
- ORIGINAL
A legislature ... may make distinctions of degree having a rational basis, and when subjected to judicial scrutiny they must be presumed to rest on that basis if there is any conceivable state of facts which would support it.
regulatory legislation affecting ordinary commercial transactions is not to be pronounced unconstitutional unless in the light of the facts made known or generally assumed it is of such a character as to preclude the assumption that it rests upon some rational basis within the knowledge and experience of the legislators.
where we find that the legislators, in light of the facts and testimony before them, have a rational basis for finding a chosen regulatory scheme necessary to the protection of commerce, our investigation is at an end
Commerce Clause legislation
If the goals sought are legitimate, and the classification adopted is rationally related to the achievement of those goals, then the action of Congress is not so arbitrary as to violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
due process, federal statute