greement in state courts over the constitutionality of zoning." Until the 'switch in time which saved nine' in the late 1930s, the Supreme Court was the repository and ultimate bulwark of conservatism in the American judiciary against what was regarded by many as an assault under the banner of progressivism against the citadel of private property. The Supreme Court during what was called the Lochner era (1900-1930) invalidated many state and federal regulatory statutes governing such subjects as minimum wages and child labor on the theory that they represented unconstitutional interference with the substantive due process rights of owners of private property under the 14th Amendment.
The courts found themselves caught in the middle between the demands of the capitalists for complete freedom of action and social concerns over the need to curb the excesses and abuses of unbridled capitalism. Leading post-Civil War constitutional scholar Thomas Cooley articulated the case for invoking the protection of the c
...