Right to Travel

Summary

The right to travel is one of the oldest recognized personal liberties. In United States constitutional law it is protected under the Privileges and Immunities Clause, the Due Process Clause, and the Commerce Clause, and has been recognized as a fundamental right by the Supreme Court in a line of cases including Crandall v. Nevada (1868), Shapiro v. Thompson (1969), and Saenz v. Roe (1999).

Under international law, the right of every person to leave any country including their own and to return, as well as freedom of movement within a state, is set out in Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and, as applied to Indigenous peoples, in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

The Nation recognizes free movement of its citizens between Nation territory, allied jurisdictions, and the broader international community, subject only to lawful process and to the Nation's own reciprocal recognition of other sovereigns' entry rules.

Common practical questions covered in the full brief include: (i) whether a Nation identification card is sufficient for federally regulated travel; (ii) how the Nation coordinates with state Departments of Motor Vehicles on driver identity; (iii) how a Nation citizen should assert their standing at a stop, checkpoint, or port of entry; (iv) whether the right to travel extends to non-commercial use of the public highways; and (v) how the Nation asserts the right on behalf of a citizen detained abroad.