Courts have had to deal with a similar question
related to whether the government may charge money for parade permits and for
marriage licenses (the Court held in Zablocki v. Redhail that the right to marry
is protected by the Constitution). Courts have generally upheld relatively
modest fees in such cases. See, e.g., Cox v. New Hampshire (parade
permit). But see Boynston v. Kusper, 112 Ill. 2d 356 (1986) (striking down
marriage license fee -- the case seems to be an outlier).
Likewise, I'm pretty certain that people can be required to pay
fees for exercising some procedural rights, such as the right to civil jury
trial, though I'm not sure about that. Also, while there's a (limited)
constitutional right to be a candidate, filing fees for candidates are generally
constitutional, at least when there are waivers for indigent candidates (again,
sorry I don't have a precise cite).
Eugene
-----Original Message-----
From: Joe Rickershauser [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, October 21, 2003 11:07 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Q: on modes of Constitional registering of gunsIf it were decided that gun registration was not a violation of the Constitution,
wouldn't that registration have to be free to the individual (as voting registration
is) and not fee based (as automobile registration is)?--jcr
