Hammer v. Dagenhart

The Court held that Congress could not use its commerce power to bar goods made with child labor from interstate shipment.

Overview

The Keating-Owen Act of 1916 prohibited interstate shipment of goods produced in factories that employed young children or worked older ones beyond set hours. Roland Dagenhart, a North Carolina cotton mill worker, sued on behalf of his two sons to block enforcement. Justice William Day, for a 5-4 majority, held that manufacturing was not commerce and that the law invaded powers reserved to the states. Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote a celebrated dissent arguing that Congress could regulate interstate commerce whatever its motive. The Court overruled Hammer in United States v. Darby in 1941, and child labor was eventually curbed by the Fair Labor Standards Act.