George Sutherland, Radice v. New York — Opinion of the Court
“ Where the constitutional validity of a statute depends upon the existence of facts, courts must be cautious about reaching a conclusion respecting them contrary to that reached by the Legislature; and if the question of what the facts establish be a fairly debatable one, it is not permissible for the judge to set up his opinion in respect of it against the opinion of the lawmaker. ”
George Sutherland, Radice v. New York — Opinion of the Court
“ The statute in the Adkins Case was a wage-fixing law, pure and simple. It had nothing to do with the hours or conditions of labor. We held that it exacted from the employer 'an arbitrary payment for a purpose and upon a basis having no causal connection with the business, or the contract or the work' of the employee; but, referring to the Muller Case we said (page 553) that 'the physical differences [between men and women] must be recognized in appropriate cases, and legislation fixing hours or conditions of work may properly take them into account.' See also Riley v. ”
George Sutherland, Radice v. New York — Opinion of the Court
“ The answer of the state is that night work of the kind prohibited so injuriously affects the physical condition of women, and so threatens to impair their peculiar and natural functions, and so exposes them to the dangers and menaces incident to night life in large cities, that a statute prohibiting such work falls within the police power of the state to preserve and promote the public health and welfare.The Legislature had before it a mass of information from which it concluded that night work is substantially and especially detrimental to the health of women. ”
