O'Connor v. Donaldson, 422 U.S. 563 (1975)

"No State shall deprive any person of life,
liberty, or property, without due process of law."

Chattahoochee, Florida, 1957. Kenneth Donaldson is committed to Florida State Hospital. Why? Because his father insists Kenneth suffers from "delusions." He's done nothing criminal or dangerous. But Kenneth is held against his will for fifteen years, until he sues for his freedom.

In l975, a unanimous Supreme Court declares, "May the State fence in the harmless mentally ill solely to save its citizens from exposure to those whose ways are different? One might as well ask if the State, to avoid public unease, could incarcerate all who are physically unattractive or socially eccentric. Mere public intolerance or animosity cannot constitutionally justify the deprivation of a person's physical liberty." Justice Potter Stewart writes: "The mere presence of mental illness does not disqualify a person from preferring his home to an institution.

For more...

AMENDMENT 14 Due Process and Equal Protection of the Law

Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. [^].

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