---
title: "Privileges or Immunities Clause (14th Amendment)"
type: Legal Rule
source: https://casebriefly.com/legal-rules/privileges-or-immunities-clause-14th-amendment
---

# Privileges or Immunities Clause (14th Amendment)

No state shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Effectively gutted by the Slaughter-House Cases, this clause protects only a narrow set of rights associated with national citizenship.

## Definition

The Privileges or Immunities Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1, provides that no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. Ratified in 1868 as part of Reconstruction, the clause was originally intended to be a primary vehicle for protecting fundamental rights against state interference.

However, in the Slaughter-House Cases (1873), the Supreme Court dramatically narrowed the clause by distinguishing between rights of national citizenship (protected) and rights of state citizenship (not protected). The Court held that fundamental civil rights such as property, contract, and livelihood were incidents of state citizenship, leaving the clause to protect only a narrow set of rights inherently tied to the federal government, such as the right to travel to the national capital, the right to federal protection on the high seas, the right to vote in federal elections, and the right to petition the federal government.

Despite periodic calls for revitalization, the clause remains largely dormant. In McDonald v. City of Chicago (2010), Justice Thomas wrote a concurrence arguing that the clause, rather than the Due Process Clause, should be the basis for incorporating the Bill of Rights against the states. In Timbs v. Indiana (2019), the Court incorporated the Excessive Fines Clause through the Due Process Clause while noting ongoing scholarly debate about the Privileges or Immunities Clause. The clause stands as one of the most underenforced provisions in constitutional law.

## Elements

- The claimant must be a citizen of the United States (not merely a state citizen)
- The right at issue must be a privilege or immunity of national citizenship
- A state must have made or enforced a law abridging that right
- The right must be one tied to the relationship between a citizen and the federal government
- Under Slaughter-House, most fundamental civil rights are not protected by this clause

## Key Case

Slaughter-House Cases, 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873)

## Landmark Cases

| Name | Citation | Significance |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Slaughter-House Cases | 83 U.S. (16 Wall.) 36 (1873) | Narrowly construed the clause to protect only rights of national citizenship, effectively rendering it a dead letter for most civil rights claims |
| Saenz v. Roe | 526 U.S. 489 (1999) | Rare modern use of the Privileges or Immunities Clause to protect the right of new state residents to equal treatment regarding welfare benefits |
| McDonald v. City of Chicago | 561 U.S. 742 (2010) | Justice Thomas's concurrence argued for reviving the Privileges or Immunities Clause as the proper basis for incorporating the Second Amendment against the states |

## Exam Tips

- Be clear about which Privileges clause is being discussed -- Article IV and the Fourteenth Amendment protect different things
- Know the Slaughter-House holding cold: the clause protects only rights of national citizenship, not the broader set of fundamental civil rights
- Note Saenz v. Roe as a rare modern application -- the right to travel and be treated equally as a new state resident

## Common Mistakes

- Confusing the Fourteenth Amendment Privileges or Immunities Clause with the Article IV Privileges and Immunities Clause -- they differ in text, scope, and judicial interpretation
- Assuming this clause provides broad protection for fundamental rights -- the Slaughter-House Cases effectively confined it to a narrow set of national citizenship rights

## Mnemonic Or Memory Aid

Slaughter-House slaughtered the 14th Amendment P or I Clause -- it only protects narrow national citizenship rights like the right to travel to DC

## Related Rules

- privileges-and-immunities-clause-art-iv
- due-process-clause-substantive
- equal-protection-clause

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Source: [Privileges or Immunities Clause (14th Amendment) — CaseBriefly](https://casebriefly.com/legal-rules/privileges-or-immunities-clause-14th-amendment)