Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 is Defined to have both Fundamental and Common Privileges and Immunities

Abstract

Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 has been defined to have both fundamental privileges and immunities as well as common privileges and immunities. After the adoption of the Constitution of the United States of America, there were two trains of thought regarding the privileges and immunities protected under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The first was that the privileges and immunities protected were fundamental privileges and immunities. The second was that Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 granted common privileges and immunities to the citizens of sister States when they were in another State.The Supreme Court of the United States eventually took up the task of defining the privileges and immunities contained in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1. In Paul v. State of Virginia, the Supreme Court stated that Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution protected common privileges and immunities. However, in Ward v. State of Maryland, the Supreme Court of the United States, took the position that Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 described fundamental privileges and immunities. It was in the Slaughterhouse Cases, where the Supreme Court of the United States finally defined the privileges and immunities in Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution. The Slaughterhouse Court defined privileges and immunities under Article IV, Section 2, Clause 1 of the Constitution of the United States of America to include fundamental privileges and immunities AS WELL AS common privileges and immunities.