The Lochner Era [TEASER]

He isn't a late 19th century industrialist, a robber baron.

He has such insane levels of power, and sometimes he uses them on really vulnerable people and just crushes them like ants.

Hey, everyone, this is Leon from Fiasco and Prologue Projects.

On this week's Patreon-only episode of 5-4, Peter, Rhiannon, and Michael are talking about the Lochner era.

That's the period in U.S.

history at the beginning of the 20th century when the Supreme Court aggressively and repeatedly struck down labor laws under the guise of protecting the right to sign a contract.

The Lochner era eventually subsided, partially because of FDR's threat to pack the court.

But as the current court strikes down worker protections and regulations on corporations, the Lochner era is poised for a comeback.

This is 5-4, a podcast about how much the Supreme Court sucks.

Welcome to 5-4, where we dissect and analyze the Supreme Court cases that have clogged up the pipes of justice.

Like my girlfriend's hair has clogged up my shower drain.

I'm Peter.

I'm here with Michael.

Hey, everybody.

And Briannan.

That was a good one, Peter.

Hi.

Hi, everyone.

Yeah, inspired by true events.

You know how people will often say the world is built for men?

Yes.

If men had the problem with hair in the drain that women do, this would have been solved decades ago.

That's right.

Yeah.

I'm spending a fortune on Draino.

All my podcast money is going to Draino right now.

All right.

Today's episode is about the Lochner era, a period in the early 1900s when the Supreme Court created a constitutional right to contract and used that right to nullify laws protecting workers across the country.

We're going to walk you through the origins of the Lochner era, the key cases, how it ended, and how the modern court is rebuilding a Frankensteined version of that status quo through a variety of different legal doctrines.

Yes.

So, first, to understand the legal regime of the Lochner era, you really need to understand the Gilded Age, the period from about 1870 to 1900.

The Gilded Age was this time of rapid industrialization after the Civil War, coinciding with mass immigration primarily into the major cities.

Economic growth was significant and wages went up, but most of the economic gains were being captured by the elite who grew enormously wealthy and powerful during this time.

This is when you saw the rise of like all the great American fortunes, right?

Carnegie, the Rockefellers, the Vanderbilts, all of these grotesquely wealthy individuals and families.

The inequality and brutal working conditions of this period also led to a growing labor movement.

There are massive railroad strikes.

Eugene V.

Debs and other socialists and union organizers grow in prominence and political power.

There are anarchists committing light acts of aggressive vandalism.

Yes.

So, you know, that gives you a sense of the sort of broader political atmosphere and also the specific political milieu that the justices on the Lochner Court emerge from because they are in the literal sense, Gilded Age elites.

That's right.

The majority in Lochner is delivered by Rufus Peckham.

It's a real name,

who he was a corporate attorney before joining the court.

The chief justice was Melville Fuller.

Again, not making these up, a staunch conservative who was like fiercely protective of business and industry interests.

They're molded by this era and their socioeconomic position within it.

Yeah.

But we know what happened after that.

Right.

Yeah.

We know what followed all this is like a disastrous recession.

And so I think it's worth keeping in mind, this isn't just bad on its face.

It's part of a historical arc that led to economic ruin

for the country.

Yeah.

Really good point.

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