Opinion ID: 2266754
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: David McCuistion's Challenge to the 2005 Amendments to RCW 71.09.090 is Governed by the Standards of Procedural Due Process

Text: ¶ 53 McCuistion argues that the 2005 amendments to RCW 71.09.090 violate due process. The majority holds that these amendments violate substantive due process because they divorce the annual review inquiry from the standard set out in Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U.S. 71, 112 S.Ct. 1780, 118 L.Ed.2d 437 (1992). The majority especially highlights the constitutional significance that we have attached to the SVP statute's annual review process. Majority at 1149-50. ¶ 54 An examination of substantive due process indicates that it is not the appropriate standard here. The substantive component of the due process clause protects against certain government actions `regardless of the fairness of the procedures used to implement them.' In re Pers. Restraint of Bush, 164 Wash.2d 697, 706, 193 P.3d 103 (2008) (quoting Daniels v. Williams, 474 U.S. 327, 331, 106 S.Ct. 662, 88 L.Ed.2d 662 (1986)); see Zinermon v. Burch, 494 U.S. 113, 125, 110 S.Ct. 975, 108 L.Ed.2d 100 (1990). Substantive due process, in essence, prevents the government from performing certain actions no matter how many procedural protections there are or how fair those procedural protections may be, unless the governmental action meets strict scrutiny. Examples of activities protected by substantive due process include consensual sex within one's home, Lawrence v. Texas, 539 U.S. 558, 578, 123 S.Ct. 2472, 156 L.Ed.2d 508 (2003), and the use of contraceptives, Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479, 485, 85 S.Ct. 1678, 14 L.Ed.2d 510 (1965). Foucha establishes that McCuistion has a substantive due process right to not be held unless he is currently mentally ill and dangerous. Foucha, 504 U.S. at 80, 112 S.Ct. 1780. ¶ 55 McCuistion does not contest the State's power to detain him under any circumstances; he argues only that the procedures used were inadequate. He does not argue that the State does not have the power to continue to detain him. In contrast, he merely asks for procedural safeguards at a particular hearing. This type of challenge is governed by principles of procedural due process, which require that the State must not deprive an individual of a protected liberty interest without appropriate procedural safeguards. Bush, 164 Wash.2d at 704, 193 P.3d 103. The majority implicitly acknowledges that this case concerns only what procedures are necessary to deprive an SVP of liberty, given that the remedy it provides is additional procedures. The majority mandates that a trial court consider additional types of evidence at the annual show cause hearing beyond merely (1) evidence of an identified physiological change and (2) evidence of a change in an SVP's mental condition brought about through positive response to continuing participation in treatment. See majority at 1148-49. Substantive due process analysis requires that there be no possible procedures sufficient to excuse a governmental action, yet the majority requires additional procedures to ensure that liberty is protected. For this reason, it is self-evident that this is not an issue of substantive due process. Since McCuistion asks for additional procedural safeguards at the annual review hearing, this is an issue of procedural due process.