Supreme Court rejects push to revisit Slaughter-House ruling
The Supreme Court refused to hear a Louisiana social worker’s challenge to state licensing restrictions that blocked her business application. Ursula Newell-Davis wanted to open respite care services for families with special needs children, but officials determined the region had sufficient providers.
Newell-Davis argued that Louisiana violated the 14th Amendment’s privileges or immunities clause, protecting citizens’ right to pursue lawful occupations. The 1873 Slaughter-House Cases narrowed that constitutional provision to cover only federal rights, such as seaport access, rather than broader freedoms.
Justice Stephen Field dissented in the original case after Louisiana granted a slaughterhouse monopoly to one company. Field wrote that the amendment should protect economic liberty and property rights from arbitrary government barriers.
Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch have suggested reconsidering the 150-year-old precedent. Courts currently apply minimal scrutiny to economic regulations under different constitutional doctrines.
