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Opinion

Rehabilitating Lochner a Sharp, Iconoclastic Work

For non-lawyers, the “Lochner” in this book’s title refers to the Supreme Court’s 1905 decision in Lochner v. New York, which author David Bernstein (of George Mason University Law School) argues has been misrepresented terribly by “progressive” intellectuals. Among lawyers, the standard view of Lochner is that it was a perverse triumph of ideological judicial activism over a statute meant to protect workers. Bernstein shows that view to be mistaken, as his subtitle — “defending individual rights against progressive reform” — indicates. Instead of being demonized, the court’s decision should be extolled for its shielding of individual liberty against authoritarianism.

George Leef
Opinion

Bio: Madison Captivated by Politics

He’s known as the Father of the Constitution, despite the fact that he didn’t much like the product that emerged from the secretive convention that created that document. He served as the fourth American president under the Constitution. Few at the time would have disputed his job qualifications, even after such Revolutionary Era titans as Washington, Adams, and Jefferson had elevated the executive office’s status...

Mitch Kokai