Rehabilitating Lochner with David Bernstein & Prof. Robert Reinstein

Temple Federalist Society Presents

Rehabilitating Lochner

Thursday, January 19 · 12:00 · K2B

FREE JIMMY JOHNS

David Bernstein, George Mason Law · Robert Reinstein, Temple Law

 DAVID BERNSTEIN is a Professor at the George Mason University School of Law & is the preeminent expert on the Lochner era of American constitutional jurisprudence. Bernstein's nationally renowned work on Lochner v. New York is notable because he argues that the Supreme Court's liberty of contract jurisprudence was primarily rights-based, rather than resulting from concerns over "class legislation". This 1905 decision invalidated state laws limiting work hours & became the leading case contending that novel economic regulations were unconstitutional. He argues that the decision was well grounded in precedent & that modern constitutional jurisprudence owes at least as much to the limited-government ideas of Lochner proponents as to the more expansive vision of its Progressive opponents. Tracing the influence of this decision through subsequent battles over segregation laws, sex discrimination, civil liberties, he argues not only that the court acted reasonably in Lochner, but that Lochner & like-minded cases have been widely misunderstood & unfairly maligned.

 ROBERT J. REINSTEIN is a Professor & the former Dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law. A cum laude graduate of the Harvard Law School, he worked for the NAACP, where he served as a consulting attorney & participated in a number of successful class-action civil rights cases. He also worked with the U.S. Department of Justice as a Senior Attorney in the Appellate Section of the Civil Rights Division and as the Chief of the General Litigation Section. In addition to his legal practice, Reinstein served as a visiting professor at institutions including Georgetown University Law Center, University of Tel Aviv, and Temple University Japan. He has been a member of the Temple University faculty since 1969. In addition to his professorship, he served as University Counsel for Temple University from 1982 to 1989, advising the President, Board of Trustees, and other University officials on legal matters.