Cite as: 527 U. S. 41 (1999)
Thomas, J., dissenting
Tellingly, the plurality cites only three cases in support of the asserted right to "loiter for innocent purposes." See ante, at 53-54. Of those, only one—decided more than 100 years after the ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment— actually addressed the validity of a vagrancy ordinance. That case, Papachristou, supra, contains some dicta that can be read to support the fundamental right that the plurality asserts.5 However, the Court in Papachristou did not undertake the now-accepted analysis applied in substantive due process cases—it did not look to tradition to define the rights protected by the Due Process Clause. In any event, a careful reading of the opinion reveals that the Court never said anything about a constitutional right. The Court's holding was that the antiquarian language employed in the vagrancy ordinance at issue was unconstitutionally vague. See id., at 162-163. Even assuming, then, that Papachristou was correctly decided as an original matter—a doubtful proposidon 1945); Kan. Gen. Stat. Ann. § 21-2409 (1949); N. Y. Crim. Code § 887 (1952); Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40-8-20 (1954); Cal. Penal Code § 647 (1953); 1 Ill. Rev. Stat., ch. 38, § 578 (1953); Ky. Rev. Stat. § 436.520 (1953); 5 Ala. Code, Tit. 14, § 437 (1959); Pa. Stat. Ann., Tit. 18, § 2032 (Purdon 1963); Kan. Stat. Ann. § 21-2409 (1964).
5 The other cases upon which the plurality relies concern the entirely distinct right to interstate and international travel. See Williams v. Fears, 179 U. S. 270, 274-275 (1900); Kent v. Dulles, 357 U. S. 116 (1958). The plurality claims that dicta in those cases articulating a right of free movement, see Williams, supra, at 274; Kent, supra, at 125, also supports an individual's right to "remain in a public place of his choice." Ironically, Williams rejected the argument that a tax on persons engaged in the business of importing out-of-state labor impeded the freedom of transit, so the precise holding in that case does not support, but undermines, the plurality's view. Similarly, the precise holding in Kent did not bear on a constitutional right to travel; instead, the Court held only that Congress had not authorized the Secretary of State to deny certain passports. Furthermore, the plurality's approach distorts the principle articulated in those cases, stretching it to a level of generality that permits the Court to disregard the relevant historical evidence that should guide the analysis. Michael H. v. Gerald D., 491 U. S. 110, 127, n. 6 (1989) (plurality opinion).
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