Occupational Licensing Abuse Struck Down in Louisiana

Congratulations to the Institute for Justice, who won a major victory on behalf of economic liberty today when the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana struck down the state law making it illegal for anyone but licensed funeral directors to sell caskets. IJ's clients in the case were the monks of Saint Joseph Abbey of Saint Benedict, Louisiana, who had the nerve to build and then sell affordable caskets to willing customers. Here's what Judge Stanwood Duval had to say about the state law:

Simply put, there is nothing in the licensing procedures that bestows any benefit to the public in the context of the retail sale of caskets.  The license has no bearing on the manufacturing and sale of coffins.  It appears that the sole reason for these laws is the economic protection of the funeral industry which reason the Court has previously found not to be a valid government interest standing alone to provide a constitutionally valid reason for these provisions.

Read previous Reason coverage of the case here.