Transportation: The Hidden Right to Exclude
Vanita “Saleema” Snow* | 25.6 | Citation: Vanita “Saleema” Snow, Transportation: The Hidden Right to Exclude, 25 U. Pa. J. Const. L. 1372 (2023).
“We are a nation of travelers. You cannot write our history without devoting many chapters to the pony express, the stagecoach, the railroad, the automobile, the airplane . . . . Yet, until 1964, the Federal Government did little or nothing to help the urban commuter.” President Lyndon B. Johnson’s remarks, at the signing of the Urban Mass Transportation Act, memorialized transportation evolution. His remarks also reinforced the role of federal funding to support urban commuters—many who are African American. Yet, disparate transportation funding continues to exclude people of color and people living in poverty from traveling to and benefiting from all services in their cities.
Caroline LeCount, Claudette Colvin, Irene Morgan, and Rosa Parks’ refusal to relinquish their seats and the ghastly beatings of freedom riders also document the legacy of exclusionary transportation practices. Getting on the bus symbolized mobility, access to opportunities, and ending segregated public transportation. In addition to protesting segregated buses, the 381- day Montgomery bus boycott exposed the role of transportation as a valued resource affecting economies, government operations, and employment. Similarly, the Supreme Court’s ruling that separate but equal is inherently unequal did more than integrate buses. The Court’s ruling signaled enhanced regulating of transportation systems and limiting the right to exclude in those systems.
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* Professor of Law, University of the District of Columbia David A. Clarke School of Law.