The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution provides, in part, that no person shall be "deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law." The Fourteenth Amendment contains the same words. It prohibits the states from depriving any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.

A fundamental requirement of due process of law is notice reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of an action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections. The notice must reasonably convey the required information and must afford a reasonable time for those interested to make their appearance. (Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank,  339 U.S. 306 (1950)).

The U.S. Supreme Court has deemed the due process guarantees of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to protect certain substantive rights that are not enumerated in the Constitution but are so important that they cannot be infringed without a compelling reason no matter how much process is given. These rights to substantive due process are referred to as fundamental rights (see "fundamental right," Legal Information Institute; "due process," Lagan Information Institute).