Columbus, OH – On Thursday, The Buckeye Institute filed an amicus brief in Carbin v. Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters, calling on the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case and revive the judiciary’s independent duty to interpret and enforce constitutional limits. The Manhattan Institute joined The Buckeye Institute in filing its brief.

“The Constitution was not designed to subordinate liberty to legislative convenience, and due respect for Congress does not entail blind acceptance of its assertions,” said David C. Tryon, director of litigation at The Buckeye Institute. “If upheld, this Massachusetts law will invite limitless expansion of state control over Americans’ daily life.”

In their brief, amici argue that:

• The recent court practice of reflexive deference has led courts to routinely uphold laws that burden individual liberty so long as any conceivable justification—real or imagined—can be hypothesized. This effectively immunizes government action from meaningful scrutiny, making judicial review indistinguishable from no review at all.
• Courts are obligated to verify that challenged laws pursue legitimate governmental objectives through rational means, based on evidence and articulated purposes—not speculative justifications supplied by the judiciary itself.
• A meaningful rational basis inquiry requires courts to insist that the government clearly identify legitimate interests with some degree of specificity.
• The importance of the privileges or immunities clause—which is central to the Fourteenth Amendment’s design—needs to be reestablished. Reviving its historical understanding will bring coherence to property-rights jurisprudence and restore constitutional grounding to judicial review.

The Buckeye Institute calls on the U.S. Supreme Court to reexamine rational basis review, restore judicial engagement, and reaffirm that liberty—rather than unexamined deference—remains the Constitution’s guiding principle.

Pacific Legal Foundation represents Mr. Carbin in Carbin v. Massachusetts Board of State Examiners of Plumbers and Gas Fitters.

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