Legal Definitions - privileges and immunities

The term "privileges and immunities" refers to the fundamental rights and protections that citizens enjoy under the U.S. Constitution. This concept appears in two main parts of the Constitution, ensuring that states respect these rights in different ways.

First, under Article IV, it means that a state generally cannot treat citizens from other states differently from its own citizens when it comes to basic rights. Essentially, if you are a citizen of one state and you visit or move to another, that new state cannot deny you the same fundamental rights it grants to its own residents, such as the right to travel, own property, or access the courts.

Second, the 14th Amendment further protects these fundamental rights by stating that no state can create or enforce laws that diminish the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. This provision aims to prevent states from infringing upon the basic rights of all U.S. citizens, ensuring a baseline of constitutional protection against state government actions. While the exact scope of these "privileges or immunities" has been a subject of legal interpretation over time, it generally encompasses core rights essential to citizenship in a free society.

Here are some examples to illustrate this concept:

• Example 1 (Article IV - Interstate Economic Activity):

  Imagine a licensed engineer from Oregon wants to bid on a public construction project in Washington state. Washington cannot pass a law requiring out-of-state engineers to pay a significantly higher licensing fee or undergo a much more extensive background check than Washington-licensed engineers, solely because they are from another state. Such a law would likely violate the privileges and immunities clause of Article IV by discriminating against an out-of-state citizen's right to pursue a livelihood.

• Example 2 (Article IV - Interstate Property Rights):

  A family from New York decides to relocate to Florida and wants to purchase a home. Florida cannot enact a law that prohibits non-residents from purchasing real estate for the first year of their residency, while allowing existing Florida residents to buy property freely. Such a law would infringe upon the privileges and immunities of citizens from other states, specifically their right to acquire and possess property, as protected by Article IV.

• Example 3 (14th Amendment - Fundamental Right to Travel):

  Suppose a state government passes a law that restricts its own citizens' ability to travel freely within the state or to other states without a compelling reason. For instance, if the state of Montana were to pass a law requiring all its citizens to obtain a special permit and pay a substantial fee every time they wished to leave Montana and enter Idaho, this law would likely be challenged under the 14th Amendment's Privileges or Immunities Clause. The right to interstate travel is considered a fundamental privilege of U.S. citizenship, and a state cannot arbitrarily abridge this right for its own citizens.