Death Grip Loosening the Law's Stranglehold over Economic Liberty

In an 1873 decision, the Supreme Court by a 5#x13;4 vote-highly unusual in those days-upheld a bribery-procured Louisiana slaughterhouse monopoly that had been challenged by a group of butchers whose businesses were jeopardized. By that decision (called the Slaughter-Housecases), one of the most important and beneficial products of the Civil War-a revolutionary constitutional provision intended to protect civil rights against oppression by state governments-was nullified. The repercussions of that unfortunate decision are still being felt today. In Death-Grip: Loosening the Law#x19;s Stranglehold over Economic Liberty,Clint Bolick looks at the state of economic liberty in our country today and explains how the consequences of Slaughter-Housecontinue to manifest themselves to this day. Bolick examines the history and intent of the Fourteenth Amendment and the judicial nullification of the privileges (or immunities) clause in the Slaughter-Housecases and their aftermath through the years. Looking at more recent decisions, he sees hope in the current campaign to restore economic liberty as a fundamental civil right. Armed with knowledge, passion, and commitment to principle, he concludes, we can win the battle to restore economic liberty once and for all.

Clint Bolick is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and serves as the director of the Goldwater Institute Center for Constitutional Litigation in Phoenix.