Shapiro v. Thompson (1969) struck down State laws that imposed a residency requirement to collect welfare based on the "right to travel interstate" and the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause:
We have no occasion to ascribe the source of this right to travel interstate to a particular constitutional provision. It suffices that, as MR. JUSTICE STEWART said for the Court in United States v. Guest, 383 U. S. 745, 757-758 (1966):
"The constitutional right to travel from one State to another . . . occupies a position fundamental to the concept of our Federal Union. It is a right that has been firmly established and repeatedly recognized.
". . . [T]he right finds no explicit mention in the Constitution. The reason, it has been suggested, is that a right so elementary was conceived from the beginning to be a necessary concomitant of the stronger Union the Constitution created. In any event, freedom to travel throughout the United States has long been recognized as a basic right under the Constitution."
Yes, to quote Indiana Jones, "I'm making it up as I go along." But at least it was funny in that context.
At least they didn't feel it necessary to write about shadows and emanations and penumbras for that one.
ReplyDelete