One of the major, 20th-century body blows to free enterprise was delivered by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1955, via a decision against Oklahoma opticians in a case brought by rival optometrists and ophthalmologists. The latter had convinced the state legislature to pass a law limiting the ability of opticians to provide consumers with corrective lenses. Liberal Associate Justice William O. Douglas wrote for the High Court that state legislators no longer would need to provide a clear, or even a rational basis for restricting one class of business or profession in order to benefit another.
The reasoning in that decision (Williamson v. Lee Optical ) remains to this day one of the favored legal shields with which established business and professional interests protect themselves from real or perceived rivals seeking to enhance competition or lower costs. The 60-year old decision came to my mind recently as I reflected on a pair of articles relating to the practice of dentistry in my home state of Georgia and nationally.
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