Muller+v.+Oregon

//Curt Muller, Plaintiff in Error v. The State of Oregon//  **Important Dates:** Argued: January 15th, 1908 Decided: February 25th, 1908  **Premise:** 14th Amendment, "Guarantee of liberty contract"  **Background:** State legislatures were passing laws aimed at reforming working conditions. Questions began to arise over the constitutionality of the reform laws. One citizen challenged the law setting a 10-hour workday for women citing it infringed on his "liberty to contract" that is guaranteed in the 14th Amendment  **Opinion of the Court:** Delivered by Justice Brewer. The court unanimously accepted Brandeis' argument that longer working hours may harm women's ability to bear children. The state's limitation of hours was therefore a justified interference with liberty of contract and property**.**  p.228 - p.230