Also known as: Privileges and Immunities · privileges and immunities clause · P&I Clause · Privileges or Immunities Clause
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutional guarantee entitling citizens of each state to the privileges and immunities afforded citizens in the several states.
Pilar Pena faces felony charges in State A after an industrial incident. She relocates to State B for work. State A demands her return. The State B governor must deliver her under the clause without conducting an independent review of the evidence.
Perry Pratt moves from State A to State B for employment. State B caps his welfare payments at the lower State A level for one year. The waiting period violates his right to equal treatment as a newly arrived citizen under the clause.
Peter Park, licensed in State A, applies for admission in State B. State B requires one year of prior residency. The requirement discriminates against nonresidents in the common calling of law practice without substantial justification.
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Parker Phillips holds a license in State A and seeks reciprocal admission in State B. State B imposes an additional residency test on out-of-state applicants. The test infringes the protected right to pursue the common calling of law absent a substantial state interest.
Pedro Pacheco inherits land in State A while residing in State B. State A denies him the right to hold or convey the property on equal terms with its own citizens. The clause requires State A to extend the same property privileges to him as to its own citizens.
Portia Price suffers unlawful searches by state officers in State A. She sues under federal law. The clause supports the availability of a federal remedy for violations of constitutional rights by state actors.
No. Corporations are not citizens within the meaning of the clause, so states retain broad power to regulate or exclude foreign corporations from intrastate business.
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Discriminatory residency rules that burden the pursuit of a common calling receive strict scrutiny and are invalid absent a substantial justification that cannot be served by less discriminatory means.
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Yes when the benefit is tied to the fundamental right to pursue a livelihood. A one-year waiting period or reduced benefits for new arrivals violates the clause by penalizing the exercise of the right to travel and relocate.
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The extradition clause imposes a mandatory duty on the asylum state to deliver a fugitive upon proper demand. The governor may conduct only minimal verification and cannot refuse or delay delivery based on an independent assessment of the underlying charge.
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…they have been denied the equal protection of the laws, deprived of property without due process of law, and have been denied privileges and immunities of citizens of the United States. We pass to a consideration of those issues. I. Whether the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment inhibits judicial enforcement by state…