Coleman v. Miller (1900)
- Docket
- 7
- Decided
- 1900-1940-
Summary
Question: Was Kansas’s ratification of the Child Labor Amendment valid? Conclusion: In an opinion by Chief Justice Hughes, the Court held that the Kansas legislators had standing to sue, but found that two of the plaintiffs’ claims raised political questions that could only be resolved by Congress. With respect to the whether the Kansas legislature’s previous rejection of the Child Labor Amendment precluded its subsequent ratification, the Court stated that this “should be regarded as a political question pertaining to the political departments, with the ultimate authority in the Congress in the exercise of its control over the promulgation of the amendment.” In his concurrence, Justice Black (joined by Justices Frankfurter, Roberts, and Douglas) suggested that the Court had not gone far enough in denying judicial power to resolve Article V controversies. Black believed that all Article V questions should be considered political and not judiciable. Justices Butler and McReynolds dissented. They argued that the Child Labor Amendment proposal had expired.