Examples are a person's right to be notified of court proceedings in which he is involved and the right against self-incrimination. Due process is woven into the fabric of American society through both the Constitution and legal precedent.

Few practices are as damaging to due process as secret courts and secret law. From the abuses of the Spanish Inquisition to the English Star Chamber, historians have detailed how individual rights decline as state secrecy rises. This relationship can be explained in various ways. One of them is with reference to knowledge and power.

Why secrecy empowers the state

"[A] people who mean to be their own governors, must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives," James Madison wrote.

Knowledge is power. That's why an individual's right to close his front door behind him — that is, the right to privacy — is a crucial defense against state intrusion. Privacy protects an individual's power over his own life because it restricts the ability of others to know about him without his cooperation.