Interstate Vs International Travel Distinction
This trap appears as a wrong-answer choice in 1 active question. Spotting how it is built is the repair: read each example's “why it's attractive” before the “why it's wrong.”
Subject distribution
- Constitutional Law1
Example wrong choices
18438_hannah_david_medicaid · CONSTITUTIONAL_LAW · Choice ARational basis applies because public benefits are always discretionary and the state may allocate them as it wishes.
Why it's attractive
The student reaches for the default rational-basis framing for benefit-classification cases. The Gold Key tells the student that public-benefit rules can still burden fundamental rights, and the right to travel is a fundamental right.
Why it's wrong
The student reaches for the default rational-basis framing for benefit-classification cases. The Gold Key tells the student that public-benefit rules can still burden fundamental rights, and the right to travel is a fundamental right.
18438_hannah_david_medicaid · CONSTITUTIONAL_LAW · Choice BThe rule is valid because states may always favor long-term residents over newcomers.
Why it's attractive
The student hears 'states may always favor long-term residents' and assumes the state's general police power controls. It does not — the constitutional right to travel limits the state's general police power when the classification operates as a penalty on the right to move.
Why it's wrong
The student hears 'states may always favor long-term residents' and assumes the state's general police power controls. It does not — the constitutional right to travel limits the state's general police power when the classification operates as a penalty on the right to move.
18438_hannah_david_medicaid · CONSTITUTIONAL_LAW · Choice CStrict scrutiny applies only if the new resident crossed an international border.
Why it's attractive
The student reads 'right to travel' and assumes it means international travel. It does not — the constitutional right at issue is INTERSTATE travel, and Hannah and David moved from State B to State A.
Why it's wrong
The student reads 'right to travel' and assumes it means international travel. It does not — the constitutional right at issue is INTERSTATE travel, and Hannah and David moved from State B to State A.
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