The Supreme Court: Limits on Travel

Louis Zemel, a Connecticut ski-resort operator, wanted to go to Cuba in 1962 "to make me a better-informed citizen." The State Department refused to put the necessary endorsement on his passport. Last week, in a decision that surprised many libertarians, the Supreme Court sided with the State Department.

In 1958, the court declared for the first time that travel is "part of the liberty of which the citizen cannot be deprived without the due process of law of the Fifth Amendment." According to that decision (Kent v. Dulles), the State Department exceeded its powers when it denied a passport to...

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