In person icon Citizenship and the Right to Travel: A Legal History of the Relationship from before the Passport to after the No Fly List

Abstract

Freedom of movement, particularly the freedom to enter and exit one’s own country, is widely accepted as a fundamental right of citizenship in a democracy. But the history of this idea does not always track this common understanding. This panel will examine the legal history of freedom of movement for United States citizens, those with permanent legal residency status, and other classifications of civic identity. Prior to the travel restrictions imposed after September 11, 2001, the freedom of citizens to depart and return from the United States suffered its most severe restriction in the passport controls of the 1950s. Panelists will examine this system of travel controls from the point of view of private citizens and government officials. Although this system was eventually dismantled by the courts as unconstitutional, many of its features were restored in terrorist watchlists such as today’s No Fly List, which will also be examined in comparative perspective. Panelists will also examine other methods, such as immigration regimes and work restrictions, in the United States and elsewhere in which citizenship status has been used as a means to restrict travel. Travel controls old and new, and their effect on the concept of citizenship, will be a unifying theme.

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