Opinion ID: 1452682
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Atypical And Significant Hardship Test Is The Proper One To Be Used In Determining If There Is A Liberty Interest Protected By The Due Process Clause In Art. I, Section 13 Of The Idaho Constitution.

Text: Like the Federal Constitution, the Idaho Constitution includes a due process clause, which states that [n]o person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Idaho Const. art. I, Section 13. We have previously recognized that while that clause is substantially the same as its federal counterpart, the scope is not necessarily the same. Cootz v. State, 117 Idaho 38, 40, 785 P.2d 163, 165 (1989). We interpret the Idaho Constitution's due process clause independently, and are not necessarily bound by the federal interpretation of due process. Id. However, we will consider the rationale used by the United States Supreme Court in deciding Fourteenth Amendment due process cases. Id. at 41, 785 P.2d at 166. In Cootz, we concluded that the Idaho constitutional standard for the quantum of evidence required to convict a prisoner in a disciplinary hearing is the same as that under the United States Constitution. Id. at 40, 785 P.2d at 165. Even more significantly, this Court recently stated that [i]n due process cases involving the deprivation of a liberty interest, this Court has applied the United States Supreme Court's standard for interpreting the due process clause of the United States Constitution to art. I, Section 13 of the Idaho Constitution. Smith v. Idaho Dep't of Correction, 128 Idaho 768, 771, 918 P.2d 1213, 1216 (1996). With those principles in mind, we hold that the atypical and significant hardship standard used for Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause also applies to the Due Process Clause contained in Art. I, Section 13 of the Idaho Constitution. Therefore, for the reasons stated in the preceding sections of this opinion, we hold that Schevers did not have a liberty interest under the Idaho Constitution's Due Process Clause.