ABSTRACT
Two cases illustrate the level of deference that the US Supreme Court accords to regulations limiting the exercise of economic liberties, those liberties relating to the production and distribution of goods and services. These cases are United States v. Carolene Products Co., decided in 1938, and Minnesota v. Clover Leaf Creamery Company, decided in 1981. According to Professor Geoffrey Miller, the US Supreme Court upheld the Act on the basis of a newly created standard of minimal scrutiny applicable in economic matters under which a legislature will almost inevitably prevail. In addition to the rule on economic liberties, two other parts of the footnote furthered Roosevelt’s desires to obtain support of voters belonging to the huge religious, economic, and civic organizations across the nation. The scrutiny rules that presently apply to legislative or other limitations of economic liberties are an invention of the judiciary, conceived at a period in US history when public scorn for economic liberties was prevalent.
