The US Constitution
Two fundamental rights in the US constitution are found in the fourteenth amendment: due process and equal protection.
The due process provision protects persons from being "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law" and the provision goes on to give the steps that must be followed to make sure the process is "fundamentally fair." A process is considered to be fundamentally fair if there has been due notice, a hearing, an unbiased fact finder, the opportunity to present evidence and to cross examine witnesses, and the right of appeal.
Under the equal protection provision, no person may be denied equal protection under the laws. "Equal protection does not prohibit all differences in the way people are treated, but it requires that these differences be reasonable. For cases involving the control of various businesses, and for ordinary cases, equal protection is fairly loose.
However, when classifications such as race, religion, or national minorities are involved, then the equal protection is enforced much more strictly. This is also true when basic rights are involved: basic rights are voting, marriage, privacy, access to a court if one is needed, and travel between the states. In these cases, the right of the government to treat people differently under the law is extremely limited.
Due process and equal protection apply both to individuals and to businesses. Although businesses may seem to be different from individuals, the law generally treats a registered business as a person.
