In 1955 the U.S. Supreme Court effectively told every federal judge in the country to uphold the vast majority of economic regulations that landed in their respective courtrooms.
"It is for the legislature, not the courts, to balance the advantages and disadvantages" of laws that regulate the economy, the Supreme Court declared in its opinion in Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc. "It is enough that there is an evil at hand for correction, and that it might be thought that the particular legislative measure was a rational way to correct it." In other words, the Court said, tip the scales in favor of lawmakers when an economic regulation is challenged in court.
The result? Even the most preposterous, pointless, and even harmful regulation stands a good chance of prevailing in federal court.
Case in point: Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit repeatedly cited Lee Optical in a decision affirming the constitutionality of Missouri's ludicrous requirement that African-style hair-braiders obtain a government license before they are legally permitted to charge customers for the harmless act of braiding hair. To get such a license, would-be hair braiders must spend tens of thousands of dollars in tuition on at least 1,500 hours of cosmetology school classes. None of those mandatory classes teach or test anything about African-style hair braiding.
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