ABSTRACT
In Edwards v. California, a unanimous US Supreme Court reaffirmed the existence of a constitutional right to travel. California had passed a statute in an effort to limit the competition for jobs in the aftermath of the Great Depression, when people from Oklahoma and surrounding states were moving west to escape the drought and to seek employment. This statute, commonly known as the "Okie Law," prohibited the transport into California of any indigent person who was not a citizen of the state of California. The issue before the Supreme Court was whether California's prohibition on the transportation of people into the state was within the state's police power. The Court held that the transportation of people across a state line constituted a type of interstate commerce subject to congressional power, and if it were to be regulated, such control "must be prescribed by a single authority."
