Today in Supreme Court History: October 24, 1894

10/24/1894: U.S. v. E.C. Knight argued.

The American Sugar Refining Company

Comments

[Dilan Esper]

EC Knight doesn’t get enough love in lists of “worst Supreme Court decision ever”.

But the distinction between manufacturing and commerce, as if the two have nothing to do with each other, is one of the silliest arguments the Court ever accepted (and, of course, led to child labor laws being struck down).

Just as Samuel Johnson said “no man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money”, no manufacturer other than a blockhead ever manufactured, except to sell stuff. And when that stuff is manufactured to be sold across state lines, I’m sorry, that’s a direct connection to interstate commerce.