Case Information
*1
[This decision has been published in
Ohio Official Reports
at
T HE TATE OF , A PPELLEE ,
v
.
B URNETT , A PPELLANT .
[Cite as
State v. Burnett
,
Constitutional law—Municipal corporations—Cincinnati ordinance establishes
drug-exclusion zones within city—Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code is an unconstitutional violation of the right to travel as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and a violation of Section 3, Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution—Supreme Court of Ohio not bound by rulings on federal statutory or constitutional law made by a federal court other than the United States Supreme Court.
(No. 00-266—Submitted March 13, 2001—Decided October 17, 2001.) A PPEAL from the Court of Appeals for Hamilton County, No. C-981003. __________________
M OYER , C.J.
On August 7, 1996, appellee, the city of Cincinnati, passed Ordinance No. 229-1996. The ordinance enacted Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code, which established drug-exclusion zones within the city. In passing the ordinance, the city council stated that certain areas of the city have a higher incidence of drug-related activity, which leads to the degradation of those areas. Ordinance No. 229-1996, Section 1(A). Further, the city council theorized that many people arrested for or convicted of drug offenses frequently returned to these areas. Section 1(B). Finding that its existing laws did not adequately control drug- related activity and that the public interest in “preventing the harmful effects of illegal drug abusers” was great, Sections 1(E) and (F), the city created a drug- exclusion zone under Chapter 755. [1] The ordinance states that, “drug-exclusion zones are those areas of the
city as designated by the city council under Chapter 755 of this code, which are areas where the number of arrests for the crimes listed in Chapter 755-5 and other drug-abuse related crimes * * * is significantly higher than that for other similarly situated/sized areas of the city.” Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-1. Chapter 755 subjects a person to exclusion for ninety days from the public streets, sidewalks, and other public ways in all drug-exclusion zones if the person is arrested or taken into custody within any drug-exclusion zone for any of several enumerated offenses. [2] Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-5. If the offender is subsequently convicted of the crime for which he or she was arrested, the offender is prohibited for one year from the date of conviction from being on any public street, sidewalk, or other public way in all drug-exclusion zones. Id. If an excluded person is found within a drug-exclusion zone during the exclusion period, that person is subject to immediate arrest for criminal trespass pursuant to R.C. 2911.21. Id. At the time a person is arrested within a drug-exclusion zone for any
of the crimes listed in Section 755-5, the officer making the arrest may, but is not required to, deliver a written notice excluding the person from all drug-exclusion zones. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-9. If notice is given, it shall specify the areas designated as drug-exclusion zones and it shall provide information 1. The enactment initially created only one drug-exclusion zone. It is an area of the city known as “Over the Rhine.” See Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-15.
2. The offenses include corrupting another with drugs in violation of R.C. 2925.02, drug trafficking in violation of R.C. 2925.03, drug abuse in violation of R.C. 2925.11 (except for minor misdemeanor violations), possessing drug-abuse instruments in violation of R.C. 2925.12, possessing drug paraphernalia in violation of R.C. 2925.14, illegal processing of drug documents in violation of R.C. 2925.23, abusing harmful intoxicants in violation of R.C. 2925.31, trafficking in harmful intoxicants in violation of R.C. 2925.32, and offenses involving counterfeit controlled substances in violation of R.C. 2925.37.
concerning the right to appeal the exclusion notice as provided in Section 755-11. Id. If a person is served with an exclusion notice, an appeal of the
exclusion may be filed with the director of safety within five calendar days of the issuance of the notice. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11. A hearing on the appeal must then be conducted by the director of safety within thirty days. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11(1)(a), 755-13(B)(a). During the pendency of the appeal, the exclusion does not take effect. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11(1)(b). The city has the burden to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the exclusion is based on conduct outlined in Section 755-5. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755- 11(1)(b). A conviction for any of the crimes listed in Section 755-5 or a determination that the arresting officer had probable cause to arrest a person for such crimes is prima facie evidence that the exclusion was based on prohibited conduct. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11(2)(a). A variance from an exclusion may also be granted at any time during
the exclusion by the chief of police or by a social service agency that provides services within the drug-exclusion zone only for reasons relating to the health, welfare, or well-being of the person excluded, or for drug-counseling services. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11(2)(b). The chief of police must grant a variance to any person who can establish that he or she is a bona fide resident of the drug- exclusion zone or a bona fide owner, principal, or employee of a place of lawful employment located in the drug-exclusion zone. Id. All variances must be in writing, and the person must keep the variance with him or her at all times within a drug-exclusion zone. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11(2)(c). If the person is found to be outside the scope of the variance or is arrested for conduct prohibited by state or federal drug laws, the variance immediately becomes void. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11(2)(c) and (d).
{¶ 6} On February 7, 1998, appellant, George Burnett, was arrested for one of the designated drug offenses and was given a ninety-day exclusion notice from the Over the Rhine drug-exclusion zone by the arresting police officer. Immediately upon conviction of the charge, Burnett was served by the city with a notice of a one-year exclusion from the Over the Rhine drug-exclusion zone. On June 23, 1998, Burnett was found to be present in the drug-exclusion zone and was arrested for criminal trespass in violation of R.C. 2911.21.
{¶ 7} The trial court overruled Burnett’s motion to dismiss, in which he argued that Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code is unconstitutional. Burnett was convicted as charged. Upon Burnett’s appeal to the First District Court of Appeals, the judgment of the trial court was affirmed. The case is now before this court pursuant to the allowance of a discretionary appeal. The issue is whether Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code is
constitutional. Burnett argues that the one-year exclusion [3] violates the freedom of assembly and association guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the right to travel guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. As an initial matter, we consider a question of federalism. After the
court of appeals issued its opinion in this case, the United States District Court for
the Southern District of Ohio ruled in a separate case,
Johnson v. Cincinnati
(S.D.Ohio 2000),
4. The constitutional arguments in Johnson are the same as those presented by Burnett in the present case.
during oral argument that the city has suspended enforcement of Chapter 755 since
the
Johnson
decision was issued. The federalism question is whether a state
supreme court is bound by an application of federal constitutional law by a federal
trial court under the Supremacy Clause of the United States Constitution.
[5]
The question of whether a state court is required to follow a federal
trial court’s interpretation of federal constitutional law is largely unsettled, and the
United States Supreme Court has yet to definitively address the subject. Several
federal circuit courts and state supreme courts have held that state courts are bound
by a decision of a lower federal court, but this rule is not universal. See
, e.g.,
Yniguez v. Arizona
(C.A.9, 1991),
Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance
thereof * * * shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State
shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the
Contrary notwithstanding.” It has long been settled that the Supremacy Clause
binds state courts to decisions of the United States Supreme Court on questions of
federal statutory and constitutional law. See
Cooper v.
Aaron (1958),
5. Counsel for Cincinnati addressed this issue pursuant to this court’s order to show cause why we should not follow the decision of the District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
{¶ 12}
The language of the Supremacy Clause is sufficiently broad (“the
Laws of the United States”) to encompass all federal court decisions, and the
Supreme Court has stated that state courts are bound by lower federal court
decisions in cases involving the Federal Employers’ Liability Act (“FELA”). In
S.
Ry. Co. v. Gray
(1916),
I. Freedom of Association.
{¶ 17}
The First Amendment provides, “Congress shall make no law * * *
abridging * * * the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the
Government for a redress of grievances.” From these words, the United States
Supreme Court has recognized a right of association.
Roberts v. United States
Jaycees
(1984),
into and to maintain certain intimate human relationships.
Dallas v. Stanglin
(1989),
of engaging in expressive activity protected by the First Amendment.
Stanglin
, 490
U.S. at 24,
{¶ 20}
Burnett argues that the Cincinnati ordinance is unconstitutional
because it impermissibly burdens the right of association by preventing him from
entering the Over the Rhine area of Cincinnati. In this respect, the Cincinnati
ordinance is similar to an ordinance we analyzed in
Cleveland v. Trzebuckowski
(1999),
{¶ 21}
In
Trzebuckowski
, the ordinance forbade minors to enter billiard
halls. We held that the ordinance did nothing on its face to burden the creation and
development of intimate personal relationships deemed to be fundamental.
Id.
at
529,
the right to associate for the purpose of engaging in expressive activity protected
by the First Amendment. There was no assertion that minors entered billiard halls
to engage in protected conduct, merely that they might.
Id.
In quoting the
Stanglin
opinion, we observed, “ ‘It is possible to find some kernel of expression in almost
every activity a person undertakes—for example, walking down the street or
meeting one’s friends at a shopping mall—but such a kernel is not sufficient to
bring the activity within the protection of the First Amendment.’ ”
Id.,
quoting
Stanglin
,
does not burden associational rights. On its face, the ordinance does not prohibit
or interfere with fundamental, personal relationships. Nor does the ordinance
facially infringe the rights of a citizen to associate with other citizens for the
purpose of engaging in protected First Amendment activities. Instead, the
ordinance simply prohibits access to Over the Rhine. Furthermore, Burnett has not
presented any facts that would indicate that the ordinance, as applied to him,
interfered with his First Amendment freedoms. Therefore, because the ordinance
prohibits access only to a particular area of the city, and because Burnett has not
demonstrated that he personally has been denied his First Amendment freedoms,
Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code does not burden the right of
association guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
Cf.
Johnson
, 119 F.Supp.2d 735 (declaring that Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati
Municipal Code violates the First Amendment on an as-applied basis only);
Trzebuckowski
,
II. The Right to Travel. Burnett also argues that Chapter 755 of the Municipal Code is
unconstitutional because it impermissibly burdens the right to travel. Burnett
alleges that the right to travel is a personal liberty protected by the Fourteenth
Amendment to the United States Constitution and that Chapter 755 infringes upon
this personal liberty by punishing wholly innocent or constitutionally protected
conduct. We agree that Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code has
impermissibly burdened a fundamental, guaranteed personal liberty by extending
its reach further than necessary to advance the public interests it declares.
In all the cases addressing the right to travel, the United States
Supreme Court has examined only the right to travel from one state to another.
[6]
To
6. In its latest case addressing the right to travel, the United States Supreme Court identified three
components of the right to travel: (1) it protects the right of a citizen of one state to enter and leave
another state, (2) it protects the right to be treated as a welcome visitor rather than as a hostile visitor
when temporarily in the second state, and (3) it protects the right to be treated like other citizens of
a state when the traveler decides to become a permanent resident.
Saenz v. Roe
(1999), 526 U.S.
489, 500,
date, the court has not expressly recognized a constitutional right of travel within a
state. Burnett argues, however, that a right of intrastate travel exists and that the
Cincinnati ordinance has impermissibly burdened this right. Precedent of the
United States Supreme Court and federal courts of appeals, and our own precedent
cause us to conclude that such a constitutional right of travel within a state exists
and that the Cincinnati ordinance has unconstitutionally burdened that right.
As suggested by the United States Supreme Court, the right of travel
is most likely protected from state interference by the Due Process Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment. See, e.g.,
Kent v. Dulles
(1958),
Nation’s history and tradition and implicit in the concept of ordered liberty that
neither liberty nor justice would exist if they were surrendered.
Moore v. E.
Cleveland
(1977),
residing within this Nation. As stated by Chief Justice Taney, “For all the great
purposes for which the Federal government was formed, we are one people, with
one common country. We are all citizens of the United States; and, as members of
the same community, must have the right to pass and repass through every part of
it without interruption,
as freely as in our own States
.” (Emphasis added.)
Smith
v. Turner
(1849), 48 U.S. (7 How.) 283, 492, 12 L.Ed. 702, 790 (Taney, C.J.,
dissenting). The freedom to travel between states and throughout the Nation is one
long enjoyed and wholeheartedly cherished.
United States v. Guest
(1966), 383
U.S. 745, 758,
{¶ 29}
In its most specific, careful description, the right of intrastate travel
we contemplate is the right to travel locally through public spaces and roadways of
this state. Historically, it is beyond contention that being able to travel innocently
throughout the country has been an aspect of our national freedom. Likewise, the
right to travel within a state is no less fundamental than the right to travel between
the states. Every citizen of this state, much like the citizens of this Nation, enjoys
the freedom of mobility not only to cross our borders into our sister states, but also
to roam about innocently in the wide-open spaces of our state parks or through the
streets and sidewalks of our most populous cities. This freedom of mobility is a
tradition extending back to when the first settler crossed into what would eventually
become this great state, and it is a tradition no Ohioan would freely relinquish.
The United States Supreme Court has stated that in addressing
matters of substantive due process, the utmost care must be taken when being asked
to break new ground in Fourteenth Amendment jurisprudence.
Collins v. Harker
Hts.
(1992), 503 U.S. 115, 125, 112 S.Ct. 1061, 1068, 117 L.Ed.2d 261, 273.
Unlike the asserted right evaluated in
Glucksberg
(assisted suicide), for example,
recognizing a right of intrastate travel is hardly groundbreaking. Much like the
right to interstate travel, the right to intrastate travel has a long, historical
recognition in the conscience and traditions of our people. As further observed by
the Second Circuit, “[i]t would be meaningless to describe the right to travel
between states as a fundamental precept of personal liberty and not to acknowledge
a correlative constitutional right to travel within a state.”
King v. New Rochelle
Mun. Hous. Auth.
(C.A.2, 1971),
‘liberty’ of which the citizen cannot be deprived without the due process of law.”
Kent v. Dulles
(1958),
5 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code is immediately prohibited for one year from being on “public streets, sidewalk[s], and other public ways in all drug-exclusion zones designated in Chapter 755.” Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-5. The exclusion is in addition to any criminal penalty for violating the provisions of the Ohio Revised Code. Only if the person is a bona fide resident of the drug-exclusion zone or is legally employed within the drug-exclusion zone does the restriction on travel not apply. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11(b)(i) and (ii). The chief of police and social services agencies also have discretion to grant a variance only for health reasons or for drug-abuse-related counseling services. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-11(2)(b). The ordinance permits no other exceptions. “A statute is narrowly tailored if it targets and eliminates no more
than the exact source of the ‘evil’ it seeks to remedy.”
Frisby v. Schultz
(1988),
engaging in drug-related activity. In declaring the ordinance unconstitutional, we
found significant the fact that “a person does not have to
commit
a drug-related
offense to violate the ordinance. The ordinance is prophylactic: it permits police to
make an arrest before any crime has occurred. The police do not need to have any
evidence that a crime has occurred or is about to occur—they can make an arrest
based on subjective suspicion alone.” (Emphasis
sic.
)
Id.
at 386, 618 N.E.2d at
148. The ordinance, we stated, “can easily implicate a person’s status, associates,
mere presence, or otherwise innocent behavior * * * [and therefore] encroach on a
‘substantial amount of constitutionally protected conduct.’ ”
Id.
at 387, 618 N.E.2d
at 149, quoting
Houston v. Hill
(1987),
encroaches upon a substantial amount of innocent conduct and is not, therefore, narrowly tailored. A person subject to exclusion is exposed to a criminal penalty by simply being in Over the Rhine. Cincinnati Municipal Code 755-5. The prohibited conduct is not limited to entering a drug-exclusion zone to engage in some type of illegal activity, such as the purchase or sale of drugs or corrupting another with drugs. Instead, the ordinance also attacks conduct that is completely innocent. A person subject to the exclusion ordinance may not enter a drug- exclusion zone to speak with counsel, to visit family, to attend church, to receive emergency medical care, to go to a grocery store, or just to stand on a street corner and look at a blue sky. None of these activities are performed with illegal intention, yet a criminal penalty attaches to them without any evidence of illegality, or improper purpose, or a finding that the person is likely to commit future drug offenses. “A narrowly tailored ordinance would not authorize the arrest of a
grandmother who entered Over the Rhine for the purpose of seeing her
grandchildren. A narrowly tailored ordinance would not authorize the arrest of a
homeless person who entered Over the Rhine to obtain food, shelter, and clothing
from relief agencies. Nor would it prevent any person from meeting with his or her
attorney at the attorney’s place of business. A narrowly tailored ordinance would
not authorize exclusion without, at a minimum, a finding that the particular person
to be excluded was likely to repeat his crime in Over the Rhine.”
Johnson v.
Cincinnati
, 119 F.Supp.2d at 743-744; cf. R.C. 2950.01(E) and 2950.09(B)(1)
through (3) (a finding by clear and convincing evidence that a sexual offender is
likely to commit future sexual offenses is required before the offender can be
classified as a sexual predator). A narrowly tailored ordinance would not strike at
an evil with such force that constitutionally protected conduct is harmed along with
unprotected conduct. “The Constitution does not permit a legislature to ‘set a net
large enough to catch all possible offenders, and leave it to the courts to step inside
and say who could be rightfully detained, and who should be set at large.’ ”
Chicago v. Morales
(1999),
{¶ 38} We hold that Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code violates the constitutional guarantee of the right of travel which is protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although the Cincinnati ordinance is supported by compelling interests, it is not narrowly tailored to address those interests.
III. Section 3, Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution. Burnett further argues that Chapter 755 of the Municipal Code is
unconstitutional because it exceeds the local authority granted to the city by Section 3, Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution, which provides: “Municipalities shall have authority to exercise all powers of local self-government and to adopt and enforce within their limits such local police, sanitary and other similar regulations, as are not in conflict with general laws.” We agree. As stated, Section 3, Article XVIII gives municipalities broad power
to adopt laws and regulations that are not in conflict with general laws enacted by
the General Assembly. An ordinance conflicts with the general laws if it “ ‘permits
or licenses that which the statute forbids and prohibits, and vice versa.’ ”
Niles v.
Howard
(1984),
{¶ 41}
Burnett was excluded from the Over the Rhine area of Cincinnati for
one year as a result of his conviction for a drug-related offense. This banishment,
however, was not imposed by the court that convicted Burnett for his drug crime.
Rather, the city (through its executive branch), per the terms of Chapter 755, served
Burnett with a notice of exclusion following his conviction. This notice of
exclusion authorized by Chapter 755 banished Burnett from Over the Rhine,
adding
a criminal penalty for his drug offense that was neither imposed by a court nor
authorized by statute
. See
Johnson v. Cincinnati
(S.D.Ohio 2000), 119 F.Supp.2d
735, 748 (holding that Chapter 755 imposed a criminal punishment and not merely
a civil penalty); see, also,
Nixon v. Admr. of Gen. Serv.
(1977),
a statute, Cincinnati’s drug-exclusion ordinance has permitted something that is
prohibited under the state criminal code. Cf.
State v. Bilder
(1987), 39 Ohio App.3d
135,
IV. Conclusion. For the foregoing reasons, we hold that Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati
Municipal Code is an unconstitutional violation of the right to travel as guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and a violation of Section 3, Article XVIII of the Ohio Constitution. The judgment of the court of appeals, therefore, is reversed.
Judgment reversed. D OUGLAS , R ESNICK , F.E. WEENEY , P FEIFER and L UNDBERG S TRATTON , JJ., concur.
C OOK , J., concurs separately.
__________________ OOK , J., concurring separately. I agree with the majority that Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati
Municipal Code violates the Ohio Constitution and that Burnett’s conviction for trespass should therefore be reversed. The majority goes a step further, however, and decides that Chapter 755 also violates the “right to travel,” which it finds to be protected by the substantive Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. I respectfully decline to join the majority’s substantive-due-process analysis.
I The Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment contains a
substantive component that “provides heightened protection against government
interference with certain fundamental rights and liberty interests.”
Washington v.
Glucksberg
(1997), 521 U.S. 702, 720, 117 S.Ct. 2258, 2267,
liberty protected by substantive due process,
Glucksberg
suggests otherwise. In
Glucksberg
, the court grappled with the question of whether a state statute banning
assisted suicide violated substantive due process. The court concluded that there
was no fundamental right to assistance in committing suicide.
Glucksberg
, 521
U.S. at 723-728,
{¶ 48}
The most recent right-to-travel case decided by the United States
Supreme Court also calls into doubt the majority’s substantive-due-process
rationale. See
Saenz v. Roe
(1999),
“The ‘right to travel’ discussed in our cases embraces at least three different
components. It protects [1] the right of a citizen of one State to enter and to leave
another State, [2] the right to be treated as a welcome visitor rather than an
unfriendly alien when temporarily present in the second State, and [3] for those
travelers who elect to become permanent residents, the right to be treated like other
citizens of that State.”
Roe
,
finds its textual source in the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth
Amendment.
[8]
While acknowledging the existence of “fundamentally differing
views concerning the coverage of the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment,” the court concluded that the clause, at a minimum,
protects the right of a United States citizen to move to any other state and enjoy the
same rights (of state and federal citizenship) as any other citizen in that state.
Roe
at 503-504, 119 S.Ct. at 1526-1527, 143 L.Ed.2d at 704-705. The durational
residency requirement at issue in
Roe
directly implicated this third component of
the right to travel and was therefore subject to a more exacting level of scrutiny.
“Neither mere rationality nor some intermediate standard of review should be used
to judge the constitutionality of a state rule that discriminates against some of its
citizens because they have been domiciled in the State for less than a year.”
Id.
at
504,
identify a textual source. Because the statute at issue in
Roe
“does not directly
7. Section 2, Article IV of the United States Constitution states: “The Citizens of each State shall
be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.”
8. The Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment provides: “All persons born
or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United
States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall
abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States * * *.”
impair the exercise of the right to free
interstate movement
* * *, we need not
identify the source of that particular right in the text of the Constitution. The right
of ‘free ingress and regress to and from’ neighboring States * * * may simply have
been ‘conceived from the beginning to be a necessary concomitant of the stronger
Union the Constitution created.’ ” (Emphasis added.)
Id.
at 501,
considerable doubt about the majority’s analysis in this case.
Roe
conspicuously
fails to categorize any aspect of the right to travel as being rooted in substantive
due process. When read in conjunction with
Glucksberg
’s omission of the right to
travel from its list of fundamental rights,
Roe
’s failure to identify substantive due
process leads to the negative inference that substantive due process is
not
the
constitutional source of the right. As a matter of federal constitutional law, then, it
appears that the majority has either broken new ground in the field of substantive
due process or has identified the incorrect source of the right to travel. Neither
possibility affords adequate recognition of the Supreme Court’s reluctance to
expand the concept of substantive due process. See
Collins v. Harker Hts.
(1992),
II Whatever its source, it is well settled that the right to interstate travel
is “firmly embedded” in federal constitutional jurisprudence.
Roe
,
existence of a generalized right to free movement that would logically encompass
intrastate travel. See,
e.g.
,
Aptheker v. Secy. of State
(1964),
right to interstate travel in
Bray v. Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic
(1993), 506
U.S. 263,
“Respondents have failed to show a conspiracy to violate the right of
interstate travel for yet another reason: Petitioners’ proposed demonstrations would
not implicate that right. The federal guarantee of interstate travel * * * protects
interstate travelers against two sets of burdens: ‘the erection of actual barriers
to
interstate movement
’
and ‘being treated differently’ from intrastate travelers
.
Zobel v. Williams
,
read in conjunction with the court’s later opinion in Roe , strongly suggests that a purely intrastate restriction does not implicate the right to interstate travel unless the restriction discriminates against interstate travelers. Admittedly, a number of federal cases have declared the existence
of a fundamental right to intrastate travel or free movement. See,
e.g.
,
Nunez v. San
Diego
(C.A.9, 1997),
the Cincinnati ordinance at issue here. In
Lutz
, one of the leading cases finding the
existence of an intrastate travel right, the Third Circuit applied a form of
intermediate scrutiny to an “anticruising” ordinance alleged to violate the right to
intrastate travel. Rather than follow the
Lutz
methodology, the majority opinion
applies strict scrutiny to the Cincinnati ordinance despite the fact that the Supreme
Court has applied strict scrutiny
only
to certain impediments to
interstate
travel,
such as durational residency requirements. See,
e.g.
,
Shapiro v. Thompson
(1969),
that there is a right to intrastate travel protected by the substantive Due Process
Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. That is not to say that the right to intrastate
travel does not exist
at all
as a matter of constitutional law. In light of
Roe
, there
could be a substantial argument that the Privileges or Immunities Clause of the
Fourteenth Amendment protects some generalized right to free intrastate movement
that a person may possess as a matter of state citizenship. See
United States v.
Wheeler
(1920),
constitutional law, however, is a question we need not reach in order to resolve this case. As the majority correctly holds, the one-year exclusion imposed by Chapter 755 of the Cincinnati Municipal Code is not a valid exercise of the city’s power and therefore violates the Ohio Constitution. On that basis, I concur in the judgment.
__________________
Fay D. DuPuis , City Solicitor, Terrence R. Cosgrove , Cincinnati City Prosecutor, and Jennifer Bishop , Assistant Prosecutor, for appellee.
Bruce F. Thompson , Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office, for appellant.
Raymond Vasvari and Bernard F. Wong , urging reversal for amicus curiae , the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio Foundation.
__________________
