# West Coast Hotel v. Parrish The case that ended the *Lochner* era — and the pivot the modern conservative legal movement is trying to reverse. Decided March 29, 1937 by a 5–4 vote, *West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish* upheld a Washington State minimum-wage law for women, overruling *Adkins v. Children's Hospital* (1923) and repudiating the "liberty of contract" doctrine that had let the Court strike down economic regulation since [[Lochner v. New York]] (1905). ## The "Switch in Time" The decision is famous as the "switch in time that saved nine." It came amid President Franklin Roosevelt's threat to expand (pack) the Supreme Court after it had struck down major [[New Deal]] programs. Justice Owen Roberts, who had previously voted with the conservative bloc against economic regulation, changed course to join the majority upholding the wage law. Whether the shift was a response to political pressure or independently reasoned remains debated, but its effect was decisive: it ended the Court's *Lochner*-era practice of constitutionalizing economic liberty against legislative regulation and inaugurated decades of judicial deference to economic policy. ## Significance In the vault's Economic Liberty arc, *West Coast Hotel* is the hinge: [[Lochner v. New York]] (economic regulation is unconstitutional) → *West Coast Hotel* (1937, the Court stands down) → the modern revival via the major-questions doctrine and the end of *Chevron* deference. The contemporary movement has not formally resurrected *Lochner*, but its project — restoring judicial supremacy over economic regulation through new doctrinal vehicles — is precisely an effort to undo the deference that *West Coast Hotel* established. Understanding what the Court gave up in 1937 is the key to understanding what today's Court is trying to take back. ## See Also - [[Lochner v. New York]] — The era *West Coast Hotel* ended