Seems to me that an argument of reasonable relationship to the government's cost ought
to have some traction. As a Texas judge, I could get my concealed carry permit at
*actual* cost, whereas the average citizen pays much more.
Court costs are generally subject to an affidavit of inability to pay, so nobody is
denied access to the courts.
I think some database searches on parade permits would show cases striking down large
amounts. And some insurance requirements for public gatherings have been successfully
attacked.
Candidate filing fees are upheld where there is also ballot access by petition.
All right, I'm in danger of violating the rules of discourse here by not doing the
searches, but I'm reasonably sure that there is highly contested constitutional turf
in charging fees for the exercise of constitutional rights, and that the government is
on more solid ground when the fee can be related to an actual cost of service or there
is an alternative to paying the fee.
Steve Russell
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for firearms reg scholars on behalf of Eugene Volokh
Sent: Tue 10/21/2003 10:21 AM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc:
Subject: Constitutional rights and fees
Q: on modes of Constitional registering of guns 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 guns
If 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
