Which U.S. Supreme Court case upheld Congress’s power to ban child labor in interstate commerce in 1941?

United States v. Darby Lumber Co. upheld Congress’s power to ban child labor in interstate commerce in 1941.

The case challenged provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act that regulated wages and hours and restricted the shipment of goods produced by employees working in violation of federal labor standards. The Supreme Court unanimously upheld the law.

The decision rejected the reasoning of Hammer v. Dagenhart, a 1918 case that had invalidated an earlier federal child-labor statute. In Darby, the Court took a broader view of Congress’s power under the Commerce Clause and accepted federal regulation of production connected with interstate commerce.

The ruling became a major constitutional foundation for federal labor regulation. It also confirmed that Congress could regulate working conditions in industries whose products entered interstate commerce, helping sustain the Fair Labor Standards Act.