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The Case Of West Coast Hotel V. Parrish

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According to William E. Leuchtenburg, along with other successors, West Coast Hotel v. Parrish was the case that constituted a constitutional revolution. Leuchtenburg gives evidence of the main arguments of his opinion concerning the shift in the Court during this particular case as well as others that came after it. The significance of this case was that it upheld the “minimum wage” legislation passed by Washington State even though there was the uprising issue of “liberty of contract.” The presented case of West Coast Hotel v. Parrish provoked a constitutional revolution in the United States (Leuchtenburg, pg. 163). This case was not an open-and-shut case and encountered much opposition especially from the review of Tipaldo. As a result, …show more content…

239). The concept behind a “revolution” is change, so if this does in fact contribute to the revolution then it would seem that the relationship between the federal and state government was “hands-off” before this revolution. This also then would involve the question of why the Court would change its mind. In an attempt to answer this question, Klaus Heberle states, “It appears then that a major constitutional shift was effected without a coherent discussion of the merits. This would then seem that the Court “absent-mindedly” allowed the change without discussing the pros and cons. Not only was the shift in the Court and incorporation of the Bill of Rights significant to Leuchtenburg, but also the fact that the Court had in a sense given up its judicial review and has not reversed any legislation having to do with momentous socioeconomics nationally or state wise since then. Barry Cushman has the opposing view of when the constitutional revolution took place; he argues that the constitutional revolution occurred in 1941-42 with the case, Wickard v. Filburn. Cushman believes that the Court’s behavior in 1937 was a response to political events so therefore it was not considered revolutionary in Cushman’s perspective. To support this opinion, Cushman uses the idea of Roscoe Pound and Frederic Maitlands who state that they believe that there is nothing

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