The Right 2 Travel Applies to Gov & Private Actors
The Right to Travel Applies to Government and Private Actors
"The word “travel” is not found in the text of the Constitution. Yet the “constitutional right to travel from one State to another” is firmly embedded in our jurisprudence. United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745, 757, 86 S.Ct. 1170, 16 L.Ed.2d 239 (1966). Indeed, as Justice Stewart reminded us in Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 22 L.Ed.2d 600 (1969), the right is so important that it is “assertable against private interference as well as governmental action... a virtually unconditional personal right, guaranteed by the Constitution to us all.” Id., at 643, 89 S.Ct. 1322 (concurring opinion). In Shapiro, we reviewed the constitutionality of three statutory provisions that denied welfare assistance to residents of Connecticut, the District of Columbia, and Pennsylvania, who had resided within those respective jurisdictions less than one year immediately preceding their applications for assistance. Without pausing to identify the specific source of the right, we began by noting that the Court had long “recognized that the nature of our Federal Union and our constitutional concepts of personal liberty unite to require that all citizens be free to travel throughout the length and breadth of our land uninhibited by statutes, rules, or regulations which unreasonably burden or restrict this movement.” Id., at 629, 89 S.Ct. 1322." Saenz v. Roe, 526 U.S. 489 (1999)
“Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88, 91 S.Ct. 1790, 29 L.Ed.2d 338, upheld the application of § 1985(3) to purely private conspiracies aimed at interfering with rights *826 constitutionally protected against private as well as official encroachment, such as the rights involved in that case—the right to travel and Thirteenth Amendment Rights.” United Broth. of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local..., 463 U.S. 825 (1983)
“Our cases have firmly established that the right of interstate travel is constitutionally protected, does not necessarily rest on the Fourteenth Amendment, and is assertable against private as well as governmental interference. Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618, 629—631, 89 S.Ct. 1322, 1328—1330, 22 L.Ed.2d 600; id., at 642—644, 89 S.Ct., at 1335—1336 (concurring opinion); *106 United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745, 757—760 and n. 17, 86 S.Ct. 1170, 1177—1180, 16 L.Ed.2d 239; Twining v. New Jersey, 211 U.S. 78, 97, 29 S.Ct. 14, 18, 53 L.Ed. 97; Slaughter- House Cases, 16 Wall. 36, 79—80, 21 L.Ed. 394; Crandall v. Nevada, 6 Wall. 35, 44, 48—49, 18 L.Ed. 744; Passenger Cases (Smith v. Turner), 7 How. 283, 492, 12 L.Ed. 702 (Taney, C.J., dissenting). The ‘right to pass freely from state to state’ has been explicitly recognized as ‘among the rights and privileges of national citizenship.’ Twining v. New Jersey, supra, 211 U.S., at 97, 29 S.Ct., at 19. That right, like other rights of national citizenship, is within the power of Congress to protect by appropriate legislation. E.g., United States v. Guest, supra, 383 U.S., at 759, 86 S.Ct., at 1178; United States v. Classic, 313 U.S. 299, 314—315, 61 S.Ct. 1031, 1037—1038, 85 L.Ed. 1368; Ex parte Yarbrough, 110 U.S. 651, 4 S.Ct. 152, 28 L.Ed. 274; Oregon v. Mitchell, 400 U.S. 112, 285—287, 91 S.Ct. 260, 345—346, 27 L.Ed.2d 272 (concurring and dissenting opinion).” Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88 (1971)
"As we made clear in Guest, it is a right broadly assertable against private interference as well as
governmental action. 3 Like the right of association, NAACP v. Alabama, 357 U.S. 449, 78 S.Ct. 1163, 2 L.Ed.2d 1488, it is a virtually unconditional personal right, 4 guaranteed by the Constitution to us all." Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618 (1969)
"The right to interstate travel is a right that the Constitution itself guarantees, as the cases cited in the text make clear. Although these cases in fact involved governmental interference with the right of free interstate travel, their reasoning fully supports the conclusion that the constitutional right of interstate travel is a right secured against interference from any source whatever, whether governmental or private." U.S. v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745 (1966)
CASE CITATIONS:
Saenz v. Roe, 526 U.S. 489 (1999)
United Broth. of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Local..., 463 U.S. 825 (1983)
Griffin v. Breckenridge, 403 U.S. 88 (1971)
Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U.S. 618 (1969)
U.S. v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745 (1966)
