The transverse force acting on a quantized vortex in a superfluid is a
problem that has eluded a complete understanding for more than three
decades. In this Letter I calculate the superfluid velocity part of th
e transverse force in a way closely related to Laughlin's argument for
the quantization of conductance in the quantum Hall effect. A combina
tion of this result, the vortex velocity part of the transverse force
found by Thouless, Ao, and Niu [Phys. Rev. Lett. 76, 3758 (1996)], and
Galilean invariance shows that there cannot be a transverse force pro
portional to the normal fluid velocity.