This is the third of four ‘anticanon,’ Supreme Court decisions that everyone agreed were very wrong. This one has to do with bakeries. Yummm…
In 1897 New York passed a law that said bakery employees could not work more than 60 hours in a week. (A few years earlier bakers had gone on strike to protest the horrible working conditions, so NY took notice and passed the law.) I can’t help but add—if bakers were working too many hours, who knew what would end up in that bread?
Lochner, a bakery owner, challenged the law on the basis of contracts: Labor has the right to make ‘contracts’ with employers without state interference under the right to privacy protected by the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court agreed, basically saying “Sure, what the heck. Let the business owners do what they want. Yeah, capitalism!”
For decades the Lochner v NY decision prohibiting states from doing anything to help improve workers’ lives. Finally a 1937 SCOTUS decision overturned Lochner v. New York. I should say more, but this is a complicated issue and I don’t have the patience to dive into it and figure out all the details. There. Now you know. I lack patience.
Final anticanon decision next week. Sheryl’s already guessed it. 🙂
