Hammer v. Dagenhart Hammer v. Dagenhart, was a United States Supreme Court decision involving the power of Congress to enact child labor laws. It was argued in April of 1918, and confirmed in June of 1918. Activities of such groups as the National Child Labor Committee, muckraking journalists, and labor groups called attention to unhealthy and unsafe working conditions. A response to this public concern, many states wanted to impose local restrictions on child labor. However, this plan became ineffective. Unable to regulate hours and working conditions for child labor within individual states, Congress sought to regulate child labor by banning the labor from interstate commerce. The Keating-Owen Act of 1916 prohibited interstate commerce of any merchandise that had been made by children under the age of fourteen, or merchandise that had been made in factories where children between the ages of 14 and 16 worked for more than eight hours a day, worked overnight, or worked more than sixty hours a week. Roland Dagenhart of North Carolina worked at a textile mill with his two teenage sons. He believed the law was unconstitutional and sued, which caused United States Attorney W. C. Hammer to appeal to the Supreme Court. Roland made three constitutional arguments. He first argued that the law was not a regulation of commerce. Second, he believed the Tenth Amendment left the power to make rules for child labor to the states. Finally, his liberty and property protected by the Fifth Amendment included the right to allow his children to work. In the Hammer v. Dagenhart, Court had agreed with Dagenhart and struck down the Keating-Owen Act as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court’s decision in Hammer v. Dagenhart, is one of the most reviled judicial rulings in American history. The ruling struck down a federal law banning the interstate transportation of goods produced