Balkinization  

Wednesday, April 04, 2012

Obamacare and the child labor cases

Andrew Koppelman


It took decades for Congress to address the problem. When, at long last, federal legislation was passed, some people raised constitutional objections, but few took them seriously. The objections required the Supreme Court to adopt unheard-of constitutional theories, hamstringing well-established powers on the basis of hysterical fears about a tyrannical federal government. Even the law’s opponents were surprised when the Court took those objections very seriously. Some warned that the Court was overreaching, and that its intervention would seriously hurt large numbers of innocent people, but the Court thought it was more important to rein in Congress.

You might assume I’m talking about health care reform.  I’m not.  I’m talking about child labor—and a 1918 decision by the Supreme Court that history has not looked kindly upon. 

The parallels between the child labor issue and the health care issue are remarkable. 

The rest of this post is at The New Republic website, here.

Older Posts
Newer Posts
Home