Cite as: 509 U. S. 312 (1993)
Opinion of the Court
ians, even if in some instances these parties will have interests adverse to those of the subject of the proceedings. Neither respondents nor their amici have suggested that accuracy would suffer from the intervention allowed by Kentucky law, and as noted above we think quite the opposite is true.
Because allowing guardians and immediate family members to participate as parties in commitment proceedings increases the accuracy of those proceedings and implements the State's interest in providing family members a voice in the proceedings, without undermining those interests of the individual protected by the Due Process Clause, these Kentucky statutes do not run afoul of due process. "We deal here with issues of unusual delicacy, in an area where professional judgments regarding desirable procedures are constantly and rapidly changing. In such a context, restraint is appropriate on the part of courts called upon to adjudicate whether a particular procedural scheme is adequate under the Constitution." Smith v. Organization of Foster Families for Equality & Reform, 431 U. S. 816, 855-856 (1977).
V
In sum, there are plausible rationales for each of the statutory distinctions challenged by respondents in this case. It could be that "[t]he assumptions underlying these rationales [are] erroneous, but the very fact that they are 'arguable' is sufficient, on rational-basis review, to 'immunize' the [legislative] choice from constitutional challenge." Beach Communications, 508 U. S., at 320, quoting Vance v. Bradley, 440 U. S., at 112.4
4 Under a previous version of Kentucky's laws relating to the commitment of the mentally retarded, application by the parents or guardian of a mentally retarded person for placement in a mental retardation treatment center was treated as a voluntary commitment to which the procedural requirements of involuntary commitments were inapplicable. See Ky. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 202B.040 (Michie 1982 and Supp. 1986). In a previous
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