Maryland v. Wirtz

392 U.S. 183 (1968)

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Maryland v. Wirtz

United States Supreme Court
392 U.S. 183 (1968)

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Facts

Maryland and other states (plaintiffs) sued Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz (defendant) in the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, seeking to enjoin Wirtz from enforcing a federal statute that defined state-run hospitals and schools as "enterprises" subject to Congress's Commerce Clause authority. The statute required states to pay their hospital and school employees the federal minimum wage. The states raised four arguments, of which the district court considered only two: that the scope of the Commerce Clause did not extend either to "enterprises" or to state-run hospitals and schools. The district court rejected those arguments, and the states appealed to the United States Supreme Court.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Harlan, J.)

Dissent (Douglas, J.)

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