Rehabilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights Against Progressive Reform

David E. Bernstein

May 2011 · University of Chicago Press

About this ebook

In this timely reevaluation of an infamous Supreme Court decision, David E. Bernstein provides a compelling survey of the history and background of Lochner v. New York. This 1905 decision invalidated state laws limiting work hours and became the leading case contending that novel economic regulations were unconstitutional. Sure to be controversial, Rehabilitating Lochner argues that the decision was well grounded in precedent—and that modern constitutional jurisprudence owes at least as much to the limited-government ideas of Lochner proponents as to the more expansive vision of its Progressive opponents.

Tracing the influence of this decision through subsequent battles over segregation laws, sex discrimination, civil liberties, and more, Rehabilitating Lochner argues not only that the court acted reasonably in Lochner, but that Lochner and like-minded cases have been widely misunderstood and unfairly maligned ever since.

About the author

David E. Bernstein is Foundation Professor at the George Mason University School of Law and the author of several books, including, most recently, You Can’t Say That! The Growing Threat to Civil Liberties from Antidiscrimination Laws.