Nebbia v. New York, 291 U.S. 502 (1934), argued 4–5 Dec. 1933, decided 5 Mar. 1934 by vote of 5 to 4; Roberts for the Court, McReynolds, Butler, Sutherland, and Van Devanter in dissent. Nebbia involved emergency legislation passed by New York State to ease some of the economic hardships brought on by the Great Depression. Leo Nebbia, a grocer in Rochester, New York, violated the Milk Control Act of 1933 by selling a quart of milk for less than the price of nine cents a quart set by the state Milk Control Board. On appeal to the Supreme Court, Nebbia's conviction was sustained and the New York law was ruled constitutional.

In the majority opinion, Justice Owen Roberts abandoned the “affected with public interest” doctrine that the Court had adhered to since the late nineteenth century and concluded that a state “may regulate a business in any of its aspects, including the prices to be charged for the products or commodities it sells.” He added that “a state is free to adopt whatever economic policy may reasonably be deemed to promote public welfare, and to enforce that policy by legislation adapted to its purpose” (pp. 502, 537).

In dissent, Justice James McReynolds voiced the slippery substantive due process argument, maintaining that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment gave the justices license to sustain economic legislation they found reasonable and strike down laws they believed to be unreasonable.

John W. Johnson

NEBBIA V. NEW YORK

NEBBIA V. NEW YORK, 291 U.S. 502 (1934), a U.S. Supreme Court case that favored New Dealeconomic reforms by widening the definition of a business "affected with a public interest." New York State in 1933 impaneled a milk control board to fix maximum and minimum retail prices. A dealer, convicted of underselling, claimed that price fixing violated the Fourteenth Amendment's due process clause, save as applied to businesses affected with a public interest, such as public utilities or monopolies. The Supreme Court, upholding the law five to four, declared that such a class includes any industry that, "for adequate reason, is subject to control for the public good."

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Leuchtenburg, William E. The Supreme Court Reborn: The Constitutional Revolution in the Age of Roosevelt. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Maidment, Richard A. The Judicial Response to the New Deal. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1991.

Ransom E.NobleJr./a. r.

See alsoDue Process of Law ; Government Regulation of Business ; New Deal .