Wednesday, March 11, 2015

McEquality for all, Seattle

Does the 14th Amendment apply to all, or only to those for whom it is convenient?
Seeking to temporarily halt part of Seattle’s minimum-wage law from taking effect next month, the International Franchise Association told a federal judge Tuesday that the law discriminates against local franchisees.
Which is pretty hard to refute, in the face of the evidence produced by the franchisees' attorney;
[Paul] Clement cited an email from Nick Hanauer, a Seattle venture capitalist who served on the city’s minimum-wage-advisory committee, to council President Tim Burgess, calling franchises such as Subway and McDonald’s “not very good for our local economy … economically extractive, civically corrosive and culturally dilutive.”
That attitude is fine for an individual, said Clement, “but when a city embraces it as a policy, that runs square into the Commerce Clause. That’s 100 percent forbidden by the Commerce Clause. It’s not a permissible government objective.”
Ah yes, Nick Hanauer, witness for the plaintiffs.

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