Word.ws English Dictionary

strict scrutiny

strict scrutiny noun: a standard for judicial review, according to which a law must have been enacted to further a compelling governmental interest, have been narrowly tailored to achieve that interest, and be the least restrictive means for so doing.

Noun

strict scrutiny (uncountable)

  1. A standard for judicial review, according to which a law must have been enacted to further a compelling governmental interest, have been narrowly tailored to achieve that interest, and be the least restrictive means for so doing.
    • We mention these matters … merely in emphasis of our view that strict scrutiny of the classification which a State makes in a sterilization law is essential, lest unwittingly, or otherwise, invidious discriminations are made against groups or types of individuals in violation of the constitutional...1942, William O. Douglas, Skinner v. Oklahoma, 316 U.S. 535

Questions about strict scrutiny

What does strict scrutiny mean?
Strict scrutiny means a standard for judicial review, according to which a law must have been enacted to further a compelling governmental interest, have been narrowly tailored to achieve that interest, and be the least restrictive means for so doing.
What part of speech is strict scrutiny?
Strict scrutiny is a noun.

Words near strict scrutiny in the dictionary

  1. strict inequalities
  2. strict inequality
  3. strict liability
  4. strict ordering
  5. strict orderings
  6. strict scrutiny
  7. strict vegetarian
  8. strict vegetarians
  9. strict-sense stationary
  10. stricten
  11. strictens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: strict scrutiny (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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