Court Opinion

ID: 9431600
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:32:42.183038+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:29.148382
License: Public Domain

Chief Justice Rehnquist,
with whom Justice White and Justice O’Connor join, dissenting.
In Supreme Court of New Hampshire v. Piper, 470 U. S. 274 (1985), the Court held that a rule of the New Hampshire Supreme Court which limited bar admission to state residents violated the Privileges and Immunities Clause of Art. IV, § 2. Today the Court extends the reasoning of Piper to invalidate a Virgin Islands rule limiting bar admission to attorneys who demonstrate that they have resided in the Virgin Islands for at least one year and will, if admitted, continue to reside and practice there. I agree that the durational residency requirement is invalid under our prior cases dealing with the “right” of interstate travel. E. g., Shapiro v. Thompson, 394 U. S. 618 (1969). But I cannot agree with the Court’s conclusion that the simple residency requirement is invalid under the Privileges and Immunities Clause. Accept*560ing Piper’s, view of the Privileges and Immunities Clause, I think the unique circumstances of legal practice in the Virgin Islands, as compared to the mainland States, could justify upholding this simple residency requirement even under that view. Because the record reveals the existence of genuine factual disputes about the nature of these circumstances and their relationship to the challenged residency requirement, I would reverse the judgment below and remand for trial on those issues.