In september 1905 an overseer at a laundry in Portland, Oregon, made a woman, who happened to be a labour activist, work overtime in breach of a state law that no female should have to work more than ten hours a day. The worker sued, and the owner of the laundry, one Curt Muller, was fined $10. Muller appealed to the Supreme Court of the United States, claiming that the Oregon statute violated the "due process" clause of the 14th amendment. The National Consumers League briefed a successful Boston lawyer, Louis Brandeis, to defend the state's protective legislation.
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