Reference no: EM132341566

Political science

Instructions

Response, you're going to take what you learned about the organization and powers of the Courts, judicial philosophy, and Civil Rights and Liberties, and tie it all together in the context on a very important argument in the history of the Supreme Court. This is Louis Brandeis' famous brief (often referred to as the "Brandeis Brief" in the 1908 case, Muller v Oregon). First, you'll want to do a search for the "Brandeis Brief" and "Muller v Oregon", and familiarize yourself with the case, and Brandeis' argument (note that this case was decided BEFORE Brandeis joined the Court - he was an attorney for one of the parties; he WASN'T a Justice yet on the Court).

(a) What were the facts and issues involved in the case? What law had the Oregon state Legislature passed that was being challenged? Who challenged it?

(b) Just three years earlier, in a very similar case (Lochner v New York [1905]), the Supreme Court had heard arguments about a very similar law, but had ruled for an opposite result. What was the reasoning in Lochner? How does the LEGAL REASONING in the Muller case differ from that of Lochner (or, think of it this way - how did they apply the Constitution differently)?

(c) What did Brandeis argue in his famous brief in the Muller case?

(d) Why is that argument considered important in the history of the Supreme Court? (Hint: it has something to do with "substantive due process", and its importance is much broader than just gender discrimination and/or labor law - i.e. I know that the Wikipedia article on this case tends to lead you to believe that this case justifies gender discrimination - that's NOT the most important take-away from this case).