Bedford Cut Stone Company v. Journeymen Stone Cutters Association 273 U.S. 37 (1927)

• Author: Leonard W. Levy
• Pages: 167-168

Page 167

The company sought to destroy the union. The union's national membership of 5,000 men then refused to work on buildings made of the stone quarried by the company, which sought an INJUNCTION on the ground that the union's activities restrained INTERSTATE COMMERCE in violation of the ANTITRUST laws. Lower federal courts refused to enjoin the union. The Supreme Court commanded the injunction. The dissenting opinion of Justices LOUIS D. BRANDEIS and OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES revealed the significance of the case. When, Brandeis observed, capitalists combined

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to control major industries, the Court ruled that their restraints on commerce were "reasonable" and not violations of the antitrust acts. When, however, a small union, as its only means of self-protection, refused to work on products of an antiunion company, the Court forgot its RULE OF REASON and discovered unreasonable restraint. Brandeis might have...