Muller v. Oregon

U.S. Case Law

208 U.S. 412 (1908), sustained a state law that limited to 10 the daily working hours of women factory employees on the ground that their “maternal functions” might be impaired. Aside from the contrast it provides to Lochner v. New York, the case is important for being the first to see extensive sociological and economic data—gathered, in this case, by (then attorney) Louis D. Brandeis, who argued the case—marshaled in support of an argument. After Muller, the so-called “Brandeis brief” would be the model for social reformers arguing their cases in courts of law.