Adkins v. Children's Hospital (1923)
A minimum wage law of 1918 set minimum wages for women and children laborers. Children's Hospital appealed to the Supreme Court to prevent enforcement of this law by a regulatory board. The court found, unsurprisingly due to the conservative era of politics, that such a minimum wage law was unconstitutional because it infringed upon the freedom of contract between employers and employees, unfairly restricting the employer's side of the negotiations. Furthermore, if congress could set minimum wage laws, then it could set maximum wage laws, another constitutionally prohibited measure. Therefore, the law was ruled unconstitutional and, much like the case Bailey v. Drexel Furniture, reduced the ability of congress to regulate private enterprise.
A minimum wage law of 1918 set minimum wages for women and children laborers. Children's Hospital appealed to the Supreme Court to prevent enforcement of this law by a regulatory board. The court found, unsurprisingly due to the conservative era of politics, that such a minimum wage law was unconstitutional because it infringed upon the freedom of contract between employers and employees, unfairly restricting the employer's side of the negotiations. Furthermore, if congress could set minimum wage laws, then it could set maximum wage laws, another constitutionally prohibited measure. Therefore, the law was ruled unconstitutional and, much like the case Bailey v. Drexel Furniture, reduced the ability of congress to regulate private enterprise.