...wrote, "It is known to all men — and what we know as men we cannot be ignorant of as judges — that woman's physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a great disadvantage in the battle for life."2" The conclusion, long since discredited, is less interesting...

...Amendment, Sociology, Spencer (Herbert) Justice David Brewer Mutter v. Oregon, 208 US 412, 421 (1908) That woman's physical structure and the performance of...testimony of the medical fraternity continuance for a long rime on her feet at work, repeating this from day to day, tends to injurious effects upon the body,...

...they pointed to the increased risks women faced in childbirth. The Supreme Court agreed, concluding in Muller v. Oregon that a "woman's physical structure...at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence. . . . This is especially true when the burdens of motherhood are upon her." More significant, the Court...

...biological differences between the sexes, not the differences that flowed from social inequality: "That woman's physical structure and the performance of...disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence is obvious. . . . [CJontinuance for a long time on her feet at work, repeating this from day to day, tends to injurious...

...upheld a maximum-hours statute for women three years after it struck down one for men, finding that "woman's physical structure and the performance of...at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence." 35 This 1908 decision was overruled in 1923 by a 5-to-3 vote in Adkins. Now that Parrish overruled...

...court in the Lochner Case.1 The highest court sustained the validity of the law upon the ground that woman's physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage which justifies the exercise of the police power for the protection of public health. In the decision...

...mentioned Brandéis and the "very copious collection" of data he had filed. The Court acknowledged that "woman's physical structure and the performance of...at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence." Long hours of work took a toll on a woman, "and as healthy mothers are essential to vigorous offspring,...

...only by logic, chopping and a blend of Edwardian,era Darwinian assumptions, paternalism, and eugenics. "Woman's physical structure and the performance of...at a disadvantage in the struggle for subsistence." Women need "especial care" by the courts because "in the struggle for subsistence she is not an equal...

...general knowledge." The particular aspect of "general knowledge" referred to by Brewer was that "women's physical structure and the performance of maternal...functions place her at a disadvantage in the struggle for existence." The Muller decision, and especially Brandeis's strategy, received widespread praise in...

...that limited the number of hours women were allowed to work. The Courts reasoning was that "women's physical structure and the performance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage" and that "this difference justifies a difference in legislation and upholds that which is designed...