In the past few decades, a cottage industry has arisen around resurrecting the backstories of landmark constitutional decisions. By driving home the point that constitutional rights become real only if and when ordinary people stand up against their alleged violation, these studies highlight the courageousness of litigants who rarely occupied privileged positions in society. In addition, these studies often dispel the sense of inevitability that comes from a case being well woven into the constitutional fabric of the nation. In Making Minimum Wage, Helen J. Knowles does a fine job of achieving both purposes.
The Supreme Court case Parrish v. West Coast Hotel (1937) consistently serves as a turning point and thus is included in a variety of U.S. law and history curricula. In courses on sex-based discrimination, the case marks the point when the Supreme Court stopped waffling over whether protective labor legislation would pass muster only if...
University of California Press