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Article: Let's look at the facts; A biography of Louis Brandeis.(Louis D. Brandeis: A Life)(Book review)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 26, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A Robin Hood of the law
IN SEPTEMBER 1905 an overseer at a laundry in Portland, Oregon, made a woman, who happened to be a labour activist, work overtime in breach of a state law that no female should have to work more than ten hours a day. The worker sued, and the owner of the laundry, one Curt Muller, was fined $10. Muller appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, claiming that the Oregon statute violated the "due process" clause of the 14th amendment. The National Consumers League briefed a successful Boston lawyer, Louis Brandeis, to defend the state's protective legislation.
Brandeis realised that his main difficulty was that the Supreme ...