Court Opinion

ID: 9418271
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 22:18:15.279247+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:21:59.648529
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Holmes,
dissenting.
I think the judgment should be affirmed. In present conditions a workman not unnaturally may believe that *27only by belonging to a union can he secure a contract that shall be fair to him. Holden v. Hardy, 169 U. S. 366, 397. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. v. McGuire, 219 U. S. 649, 570. If that belief, whether right or wrong, may be held by a reasonable man, it seems to me that it may be enforced by law in order to establish the equality of position between the parties in which liberty of contract begins. Whether in the long run it is wise for the workingmen to enact legislation of this sort is not my concern, but I am strongly of opinion that there is nothing in the Constitution of the United States to prevent it, and that Adair v. United States, 208 U. S. 161, and Lochner v. New York, 198 U. S. 45, should be overruled. I have stated my grounds in those cases and think it unnecessary to add others that I think exist. See further Vegelahn v. Guntner, 167 Massachusetts, 92, 104, 108. Plant v. Woods, 176 Massachusetts, 492, 505. I still entertain the opinions expressed by me in Massachusetts.