Today in Supreme Court History: June 3, 1918

6/3/1918: Hammer v. Dagenhart decided.

Comments

[apedad]

This case was overturned by United States v. Darby Lumber Co. (1941).

One note in Darby states, "Our conclusion is unaffected by the Tenth Amendment which provides: 'The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people'. The amendment states but a truism that all is retained which has not been surrendered. There is nothing in the history of its adoption to suggest that it was more than declaratory of the relationship between the national and state governments as it had been established by the Constitution before the amendment or that its purpose was other than to allay fears that the new national government might seek to exercise powers not granted, and that the states might not be able to exercise fully their reserved powers."

I wish the drafters had included more truisms.

[Dilan Esper]

Hammer is a real contender for worst SCOTUS decision ever. Not only because of its result- invalidating a child labor law- but also because of its reasoning, following the E.C. Knight case and holding that manfacturing was entirely separate from commerce. That's just stupid.