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Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co.

Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co.
Argued March 7–8, 1922
Decided May 15, 1922
Full case nameJ. W. Bailey and J. W. Bailey, Collector of Internal Revenue for the District of North Carolina v. Drexel Furniture Company
Citations259 U.S. 20 (more)
42 S. Ct. 449; 66 L. Ed. 817; 1922 U.S. LEXIS 2458; 3 A.F.T.R. (P-H) 3156; 1922-2 C.B. 337; 21 A.L.R. 1432; 1922 P.H. ¶ 17,023
Case history
PriorError to the District Court of the United States for the Western District of North Carolina
Holding
Congress improperly penalized employers for using child labor.
Court membership
Chief Justice
William H. Taft
Associate Justices
Joseph McKenna · Oliver W. Holmes Jr.
William R. Day · Willis Van Devanter
Mahlon Pitney · James C. McReynolds
Louis Brandeis · John H. Clarke
Case opinions
MajorityTaft, joined by McKenna, Holmes, Day, Van Devanter, Pitney, McReynolds, Brandeis
DissentClarke

Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259 U.S. 20 (1922), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court ruled the 1919 Child Labor Tax Law unconstitutional as an improper attempt by Congress to penalize employers using child labor. The Court indicated that the tax imposed by the statute was actually a penalty in disguise.[1]

The Court later abandoned the philosophy underlying the Bailey case. For example, see United States v. Kahriger, 345 U.S. 22 (1953), overruled on other grounds, Marchetti v. United States, 390 U.S. 39 (1968).

  1. ^ Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Co., 259 U.S. 20 (1922).