This document summarizes several Supreme Court cases related to economic regulations and substantive due process. It discusses the Slaughterhouse Cases ruling that upheld a Louisiana monopoly law. It also discusses Lochner v. New York, which ruled against New York's bakery hour law, finding it interfered with the right to contract. Later, Muller v. Oregon upheld an Oregon law limiting women's work hours based on their role. West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish overturned a minimum wage law for women but marked the end of the Lochner era.

1. POL 309
Spring 2019

11.  Ruling: No. 5-4, Court ruled for Crescent City
Slaughterhouse Company
 Monopoly did NOT violate 13th and 14th Amdts.
 Butchers bringing suit were not deprived of their
property without due process of law
 Court concluded LA law was constitutional

16.  No. 7-2, the Court ruled for Illinois
 States may regulate private property use when
necessary for the public good
Chief Justice Morrison Waite
wrote the majority opinion.
Waite was not an intellectual
on the Court, but was a good
administrator and kept peace.

20.  In 1897, NewYork passed the Bakeshop Act.
 Limiting bakery employees to ten hours of work per day
 Total of sixty hours of work per week.
 State justified law by arguing that:
 (1) Police power is necessary to control working conditions
 (2) State must protect workers, consumers from health
and sickness.
 Joseph Lochner owned Lochner’s Home Bakery.
 Lochner argued that employees and employers have a
right to agree on wages and hours.

22.  No. By 5–4 vote, Court ruled in favor of Lochner.
 Interferes with right to contract.
 State Police Power vs. Individual Liberty
 Act is not a health law, but an illegal interference
with the rights of individuals
 State as Guardian and Father

25. "Brandeis was a militant crusader for
social justice whoever his opponent
might be. He was dangerous not only
because of his brilliance, his arithmetic,
his courage.
He was dangerous because he was
incorruptible ... [and] the fears of the
Establishment were greater because
Brandeis was the first Jew to be named
to the Court."
- Justice William O. Douglas

28.  No. By 9-0, Court ruled in favor of Oregon
 How does this ruling square with Lochner?
 Basis of the “difference between the sexes.”
 Child-bearing nature and social role of
women provided a strong state interest in
reducing their working hours.

31. Felix Frankfurter
was appointed by
Franklin Roosevelt
and served from
1939 to 1962.

32.  No. By a vote of 5–3, the Court ruled in favor of Children’s
Hospital.
 Act makes employer pay arbitrary amount determined
by the board as to what living wages would be.
 Amount has nothing to do with services and is related to
circumstances apart from employment.
 Adkins represented return of substantive due process.
 Conservative appointments t0 Court
 Men who believed in free-market economy

36. Elsie Parrish

38.  No. By 5–4, the Court ruled for Parrish.
 Washington State could impose minimum wage on
private employers without violating 14th Amendment.
 End of Lochner Era, where Court held that Fourteenth
Amendment protects substantive economic rights.
 Right to Contract through Wages, etc.
 West Coast Hotel ruled that state may constitutionally
restrict the terms of private contracts when protecting
the welfare of its citizens.