In the case of Jason Richards, et al. v. Jefferson County, Alabama, et al., 1995, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that a special tax district established by Jefferson County was unconstitutional because it violated due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. The county had created this district to fund healthcare services and imposed taxes on residents without giving them an opportunity for input or challenge. A group of taxpayers led by Jason Richards sued arguing they were denied their right to procedural due process as they weren't given notice or an opportunity to be heard before being taxed. The court agreed with them stating that all citizens have a constitutional right to be heard in matters affecting their property interests including taxation.

In the dissenting opinion for Jason Richards, et al. v. Jefferson County, Alabama, et al., Justice Scalia disagreed with the majority's decision to dismiss a tax assessment case on procedural grounds without addressing its merits. He argued that it was inappropriate for the Court to base its decision on an issue not raised by either party or addressed in lower courts - namely whether state law allowed taxpayers to challenge their assessments as unconstitutional under federal law. Scalia contended that this approach violated principles of judicial restraint and federalism by unnecessarily involving the Supreme Court in a matter of state law interpretation best left to Alabama's courts. Furthermore, he criticized his colleagues' reliance on precedent from cases decided before modern due process jurisprudence had fully developed and suggested they were misinterpreting these precedents anyway.