From FindLaw: Challenging Laws: 3 Levels of Scrutiny Explained

This helps make sense of how the Supreme Court approaches laws and policies that strike differences between people based on different categories.

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What Are The Levels of Scrutiny?

When the constitutionality of a law is challenged, both state and federal courts will commonly apply one of three levels of judicial scrutiny from the spectrum of scrutiny:

- Strict scrutiny
- Intermediate scrutiny
- Rational basis review

The level of scrutiny that's applied determines how a court will go about analyzing a law and its effects. It also determines which party -- the challenger or the government -- has the burden of proof. Although these tests aren't exactly set in stone, there is a basic framework for the most common levels of scrutiny applied to challenged laws.