Designing women: decorative cartel.

• Author: Mangu-Ward, Katherine
• Position: Citings - Brief article

WHAT HAPPENS when interior designers battle other interior designers? In the 1980s sitcom Designing Women, catfights inevitably ensue, the occasional pantsuit with enormous shoulder pads gets torn asunder, and everyone has to reapply lipstick. In a more contemporary case, up-and-coming nonfictional interior designers are taking on an entrenched design cartel with the help of the libertarian litigators at the Institute for Justice.

In September the institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of three Connecticut women who would like to advertise their services as interior designers but fear the $500 fine or one year in jail they might face for doing so. To be qualified in the eyes of the state, the women would have to pass the exam of the National Council for Interior Design Qualification. To be eligible to...