Reason Reviews Rehabilitating Lochner

(David Bernstein)

Here's a taste of Damon Root's review:

Drawing on both previous legal scholarship and his own extensive historical research, Bernstein offers a definitive account of this misunderstood and unjustly maligned case. Not only did Lochner represent the victory of small-scale producers over large, politically connected special interests, Bernstein points out, but the ruling led directly to several of the Supreme Court's most important early decisions in favor of civil rights and civil liberties under the 14th Amendment, including Buchanan v. Warley, the landmark 1917 case in which the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People scored its first victory before the Supreme Court. If anyone consistently sided with the powerful against the powerless, it was Lochner's Progressive Era critics. Progressive legal activists didn't just take a dim view of individual rights under the Constitution. They typically supported state action in all of its vilest forms, including Jim Crow laws and anti-immigrant laws.

Thanks to George Will, the book is out of stock at Amazon and BN.com. It's available through third-party sellers, or better yet it's available for $26.95, over nine dollars less than the current Amazon price, if you order from the Cato Institute. Shipping is free with a $40 purchase. You can also rent a digital edition of the book for only $7 from University of Chicago Press.