Affirming the constitutional right to travel freely and voluntarily within the United States, District of Columbia, Tribal lands, and the territories of the United States.

Bill: 117-hres-1212
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Raskin, Jamie [D-MD-8]
Introduced: 2022-06-28
Policy area: Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Latest action: action_date: 2022-11-01
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.

Summaries:
action_date: 2022-06-28
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p>This resolution expresses the sense that every person has the right to travel freely within the United States and that no one should be held criminally or civilly liable for seeking, providing, or assisting with out-of-state health care services that are legal in the jurisdiction in which they are delivered. </p> <p>It also expresses the sense that those whose rights are violated may seek relief through Section 1983 lawsuits (Section 1983 is a federal statute that allows individuals to sue state or local government actors for violations of constitutional rights). </p>

tv_txt: IV 117th CONGRESS 2d Session H. RES. 1212 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES June 28, 2022 Mr. Raskin submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary RESOLUTION Affirming the constitutional right to travel freely and voluntarily within the United States, District of Columbia, Tribal lands, and the territories of the United States.

Whereas the right to travel freely and voluntarily among the several States is one of the chief privileges and immunities guaranteed to all citizens of the United States by the 14th Amendment and one of the fundamental rights guaranteed to all persons under the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause; Whereas section 5 of the 14th Amendment empowers Congress to enforce, by appropriate legislation, its provisions; Whereas the Supreme Court has repeatedly held that a citizen of one State who travels in other States, intending to return home at the end of his journey, is entitled to enjoy the Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States that he visits (Saenz v. Roe, 526 U.S. 489, 501 (1999) (citing Corfield v. Coryell, 6 F. Cas. 546 (No. 3,230) (C.C.E.D.Pa.1823); Edwards v. California, 314 U.S. 160 (1941); United States v. Guest, 383 U.S. 745 (1966))); and Whereas the Supreme Court long ago decided that one of the privileges or immunities that the Constitution guarantees is the fundamental right to travel from one State to another to seek and obtain services lawful in the latter State, including medical services, on terms of substantial equality with the residents of that State (Toomer v. Witsell, 334 U.S. 385, 396 (1948); Hicklin v. Orbeck, 437 U.S. 518, 525 (1978); Doe v. Bolton, 410 U.S. 179, 200 (1973) (citing Ward v. Maryland, 79 U.S. 418 (1870)); Chalker v. Birmingham & N.W.R. Co., 249 U.S. 522, 527 (1919); Shaffer v. Carter, 252 U.S. 37, 52, 53 (1920)): Now, therefore, be it

That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that— (1) every person has the right to travel freely within the United States, the District of Columbia, Tribal lands, and the territories of the United States as a fundamental privilege and immunity of citizenship in the United States; (2) no person should be held criminally liable or civilly liable in any way by any State or by the United States Government for voluntarily traveling within the United States, the District of Columbia, Tribal lands, and the territories of the United States for the purposes of seeking or obtaining health care services in a destination jurisdiction, or for providing or facilitating such travel, or providing health care services in any jurisdiction to out-of-state patients, where the health care services so obtained are lawful in the jurisdiction where they are delivered; and (3) any person whose constitutional right to travel is violated under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or territory or the District of Columbia, may seek redress under section 1979 of the Revised Statutes of the United States ( 42 U.S.C. 1983 ).