''Coppage v. Kansas'', 236 U.S. 1 (1915), was a
Supreme Court of the United States
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
case based on
United States labor law
United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the US. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "organized in ...
that allowed employers to implement contracts—called
yellow-dog contracts—which forbade employees from joining
unions.
The case was decided in the era prior to the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
, when the Supreme Court invalidated laws that imposed restrictions on contracts, especially those of employment. The
liberty of contract became viewed as a
fundamental right
Fundamental rights are a group of rights that have been recognized by a high degree of protection from encroachment. These rights are specifically identified in a constitution, or have been found under due process of law. The United Nations' Susta ...
that could be abridged only in extreme circumstances; abridgments violate the
Due Process Clause
A Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibit the deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the federal and state governments, respectively, without due proces ...
of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
Background
Coppage, an employer, forbade his employees from joining labor unions by making it part of their contract, which the employee signed before being hired. That violated a
Kansas
Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...
law that prohibited such contracts.
Decision
The majority opinion was written by
Justice Pitney. It held that the law prohibiting such contracts violated Coppage's due process rights, as the government did not have a responsibility to prevent
inequality of bargaining power
Inequality of bargaining power in law, economics and social sciences refers to a situation where one party to a bargain, contract or agreement, has more and better alternatives than the other party. This results in one party having greater power ...
:
He concluded that a state in the exercise of its
police power did not have the right to redress imbalances of bargaining power and that requiring a man to give up the right to be in a union as a condition of employment does "not to ask him to give up any part of his constitutional freedom."
Dissents
Justice Holmes wrote a dissent in which he called again for ''Lochner'' to be overruled and stated that the Constitution does not specifically prohibit a law like the one Kansas had and so it should be upheld:
Justice Day's dissent would have affirmed the liberty of contract against arbitrary legislative restraints but deferred more to the legislature on the question of whether the law upheld the public welfare. He also argued, "A man may not barter away his life or his freedom, or his substantial rights."
See also
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US labor law
United States labor law sets the rights and duties for employees, labor unions, and employers in the US. Labor law's basic aim is to remedy the " inequality of bargaining power" between employees and employers, especially employers "organized in ...
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List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 236
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{US14thAmendment, Due Process, state=expanded
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Supreme Court cases of the White Court
1915 in United States case law
History of labor relations in the United States
United States substantive due process case law
United States labor case law
1915 in labor relations