Williamson v. Lee Optical Co.

Williamson v. Lee Optical Co., 348 U.S. 483 (1955), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Oklahoma law prohibited opticians from fitting or duplicating lenses without a prescription from an optometrist or ophthalmologist. Lee Optical challenged the law as violating due process and equal protection. The company argued that the law arbitrarily protected optometrists from competition.

Significance

Justice Douglas’s unanimous opinion upheld the law under the rational basis test. The Court held that economic regulations are constitutional if any conceivable rational basis supports them, regardless of whether the Court agrees with the legislature’s policy choices. This deferential standard effectively removed economic regulations from serious constitutional scrutiny, a standard that remains governing law. Williamson is the final nail in the coffin of the Lochner era.

Category

US Federal Case Law