Slaughterhouse Cases

Two related US Supreme Court cases (The Butchers' Benevolent Association of New Orleans v. The Crescent City Livestock Landing and Slaughter Co.; Esteban v. Louisiana) of 1873 brought against the Louisiana legislature for its law granting one slaughterhouse exclusive rights to operate in New Orleans. The suits claimed that this monopoly was in violation of the privileges and immunities clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it prevented citizens from pursuing the professions of their choice. The Court upheld the Louisiana monopoly statute by 5 to 4, implementing a narrow interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment that left the protection of most civil rights to state governments.