In 1938, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act to regulate many aspects of employment including minimum wages, maximum weekly hours, and child labor. Corporations which engaged in interstate commerce or produced goods which were sold in other states were punished for violating the statute.
Was the act a legitimate exercise of Congress's power to regulate interstate commerce?
The unanimous Court affirmed the right of Congress to exercise "to its utmost extent" the powers reserved for it in the Commerce Clause. Relying heavily on the Court's decision in Gibbons v. Ogden (1824), Justice Stone argued that the "motive and purpose of a regulation of interstate commerce are matters for the legislative judgment . . . over which the courts are given no control." Congress acted with proper authority in outlawing substandard labor conditions since they have a significant impact on interstate commerce.
Decisions
Decision: 8 votes for United States, 0 vote(s) against Legal provision: Fair Labor Standards Act; US Const. Art 1, Section 8
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Full Opinion by Justice Harlan Fiske Stone
