History is repeating itself – with “Scalia & Lockyer: Labor on Trial.”

On August 29, 2005, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia joined California Attorney General Bill Lockyer and others at Chapman University in Orange for a re-enactment of Lochner v. N.Y – commemorating the controversial 1905 labor law decision’s 100th anniversary and the Chapman School of Law’s 10th anniversary.  

Justice Scalia was joined on the mock bench by Chapman University students from the School of Law and from the undergraduate Legal Studies program in a centennial re-creation of the historic 1905 Lochner v. New York case, which resulted in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that remains highly controversial today.

A century later at Chapman University’s Memorial Hall, a different ruling was made.  Scalia plays the role of Chief Justice Melville Weston.  Lockyer argues for the state of New York and Chapman law professor John C. Eastman argues for Lochner.  Watch “Scalia & Lockyer: Labor on Trial” to find out the verdict. 

The 1905 Case of Lochner vs. N.Y:

In 1905, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of bakery owner Joseph Lochner, and against the state of New York.  The State of New York had enacted a law that limited the number of hours an employee could work.  The court found that such laws violated the employer’s liberty and right to due process.

Known for what some legal scholars consider to be the judicial activism of the majority, as well as the famous dissents by Oliver Wendell Holmes and John Marshall Harlan, Lochner v. New York – which was overturned in 1937 – remains central to current ideological battles over the Court's role in the conflict between the free-market and the regulatory state.

Producer Samantha McDermott has been an independent producer and reporter for KOCE since 1998.  Her prior KOCE productions include Orangeworks and Put To The Test.  She frequently contributes to Real Orange, KOCE’s nightly news and public affairs program.  She is the principal and founder of two companies, Show Staffers and Highbrow Media Group.  

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