When is an act by the legislature within the police powers of the state?
Holding/Rule:
The policing act must have a direct relation, as a means to an end, and the end itself must be appropriate and legitimate before an act can be held valid which interferes with the general right of an individual to be free to contract in his profession.
Reasoning:
The right to purchase or to sell labor is part of the liberty protected by the 14th Amendment, unless there are circumstances which exclude the right.
The state does have the power to prevent the individual from making certain kinds of contracts.
Contracts in violation of a statute or a contract to let one's property for immoral purposes.
Additionally, maximum hour laws may be valid enactments under police powers if the kind of employment is particularly dangerous or the workers are of a certain character.
Bakers do not fit into this category.
The law involves neither the safety, morals, nor the welfare of the public.
There must be a limit to the valid exercise of the police power of the state or the 14th Amendment would have no efficacy and the legislatures of the states would have unbounded power.
No trade could escape this all-pervading power. These acts might seriously cripple the ability of the laborer to support himself and his family.
Dissent:
Holmes
A Constitution is not meant to embody a particular economic theory whether of paternalism or laissez faire.
The word liberty in the 14th Amendment is perverted when it is held to prevent the natural outcome of a dominant opinion, unless it can be said that a rational and fair man necessarily would admit that the statute proposed would infringe fundamental principles.
Harlan
The police power of the states extends to the protection of the lives, the health, and the safety of the public against the injurious exercise by any citizen of his own rights.
Baking is dangerous.
The flour dust in the air is particular dangerous and leads to sickness.
Bakers always get sick the quickest, and most die before 50.
