United Building & Construction Trades Council of Camden County and Vicinity v. Mayor and Council of the City of Camden et al. (465 U.S. 208)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 21, 1984 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 465 U.S. 208 · 104 S. Ct. 1020
- Decided
- February 21, 1984
- Term
- October Term 1983
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Rehnquist
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
Opinion excerpt
Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court. A municipal ordinance of the city of Camden, New Jersey, requires that at least 40% of the employees of contractors and subcontractors working on city construction projects be Camden residents. Appellant, the United Building and Construction Trades Council of Camden County and Vicinity (Council), challenges that ordinance as a violation of the Privileges and Immunities Clause, Art. IV, § 2, cl. 1, of the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court of New Jersey rejected appellant’s privileges and immunities attack on the ground that the ordinance discriminates on the basis of municipal, not state, residency. The court “decline[d] to apply the Privileges and Immunities Clause in the context of a municipal ordinance that has identical effects upon out-of-state citizens and New Jersey citizens not residing in the locality.” 88 N. J. 317, 342, 443 A. 2d 148, 160 (1982). We conclude that the challenged ordinance is properly subject to the strictures of the Clause. We therefore reverse the judgment of the Supreme Court of New Jersey and remand the case for a determination of the validity of the ordinance under the appropriate constitutional standard. On August 28, 1980, the Camden City Council, acting pursuant to a statewide affirmative-action program, adopted an ordinance setting minority hiring “goals” on all public works…
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