Normally, I would simply answer the question at hand, taking the words as they are posed and not questioning whether they were meant to say something other than their actual meaning. However, with regard to this question the author (if taken using the words as stated) cites a variety of cases that stand for the proposition that travel is a right not a privilege, but yet simultaneously seeks to inquire whether one can be required to be be a licensed driver to merely travel. This is odd to say the least, since the question itself seemingly answers the query. That perplexity makes me wonder (1) is the author talking about driving? If not, why ask what he/she already knows to be true, which is that you have a right to travel. There were a few answers already so I didn't bother to chime in, but since today the question lives on, I thought I would weigh in on some issues, if not an answer in an of itself.
Two things are clear: The right to travel is just that, a right, not a privilege. However, a driver's license is a privilege and not a right.
To begin, I think it is only fair to point out a couple of things that are (at least to me) a bit confusing about this question. First, when I initially read this question, I assumed the drafter meant "do you need a license to drive, not just travel", since the he clearly knows your right to travel is not merely a privilege but a fundamental right. As I mentioned, he has cited myriad cases in his very question that stand for this proposition. So can that really be the question?
Frankly, I think I would've assumed the question was intended to be about the right to drive, despite the use of the term travel, as I don't think there are many people who would entertain the notion that one may need to be a licensed driver in order to legally travel as a passenger. In the U.S., people travel every day that cannot drive for one reason or another. Clearly there are all manner of reasons for this... from disability, to legal inability due to infancy, conviction, suspension, the elderly, and/or a whole host of other reasons; however, (almost) nobody would suggest that just because you cannot drive somehow limits your right to go somewhere when someone else is driving.
Whether the author meant drive vs. travel came up amongst a number of members both answering or commenting, however, the author never clarified his intention. Assuming people don't ask questions that cite the very answer they're seeking, I began thinking about it more.
Then I thought, did the author of this question, when choosing to use the term motor vehicle, intend to imply passenger travel in an individual's private motor vehicle, or, did he mean some other form of mass/public transit, or any/all of the above?
Next, I began to wonder about the use of the term drivers license. Is it possible the author was referring to identification (rather than a drivers license) in this scenario. Why? Because if the term license was intended, than the first issue is a non-starter in that regardless of what you travel in/on, the analysis doesn't change - you have the right to travel without being a licensed driver. That is clear. Not only in the cases sited in the answers herein, but pursuant to article iv of the commerce clause, the right to interstate commerce necessitates the right to free travel. But where my confusion comes in, which is why I wonder if he potentially meant ID, is that again, in reading the question the author makes clear that he is well aware of the fundamental right to travel. However, you do not have an absolute right to travel without identification. Even under strict scrutiny, being able to identify a passenger, especially using public transit, having identification serves an overriding and legitimate public purpose (actually multiple purposes) and as such, would survive the strictest of judicial scrutiny.
Why am I pondering all of these clarifications? Since taken at face value it's clear that the author already knows the answer to his question, I cannot help but wonder if we are missing the true meaning and there is really more to it that is either just missing or was somehow lost in translation.
I can see drivers licenses suffering from "the Kleenex" phenomenon. Just as people use Kleenex as synonymous with tissues, so do some use the word license interchangably with ID ("identification"). I remember as a college student heading out to the bars with my friends, and someone would inevitably ask "Everyone got their licenses?" This, despite the fact that many of our friends didn't drive, but they did have state issued identification cards so they could get into the bars! Many cities, like NYC, have full generations of residents who have NEVER had a license, because it's simply not practical to drive in a city that charges what most of us pay for a mortgage just for have a good parking space, there is nowhere to park if you drive away from your high-priced spot, traffic with the cab's is nuts, and the public transit system goes everywhere that you cannot walk to.
That said, it is difficult to assess who has the best answer when we don't know what was the intended query really is. This is all assuming he didn't just decide to ask a question he knew the answer to, and wanted to give his understanding of the law by citing cases in the question, so as to see if something unexpected would be written in an answer. Who knows! But that would be nearly as rare as thinking you could be legally required have a drivers license just to be a passenger in a car!
Anyway, If he meant do you need a license to legally drive, the answer is YES, and @Cpast and dw1 gave the best/correct answers IMHO, but those are mostly about regulating drivers (again, I too assumed this is what he meant, but only because of this discrepancy of form.
If he meant, do you need a license to legally travel in any moving vehicle, the answer is, "of course not" and his own question is the best source of (well, part of) why not.
But if the question was actually meaning to use the term Identification, then there is a whole other analysis to be done, and none of these answers are wholly adequate (and who will spend the time answering until we know!)
