Policy Forum 

# Beyond the Fourteenth Amendment: Protecting the Right to Earn a Living 

Date and Time 

April 18, 2024 9 AM - 1:15 PM EDT 

Location 

Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 

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##### Featuring 

[![Headshot of Anastasia P. Boden](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-01/img-profile-photo_anastasia-boden.jpg?itok=fgcsXMf7)](/people/anastasia-boden) 

[Anastasia Boden](/people/anastasia-boden)

Constitutional Scholarship Director and Senior Legal Analyst, Pacific Legal Foundation

[![Media Name: tim-sandefur-cropped.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/authors/crops/tim-sandefur-cropped.jpg?itok=CejcNcC1)](/people/timothy-sandefur) 

[Timothy Sandefur](/people/timothy-sandefur)

Vice President for Legal Affairs, Scharf-Norton Center for Constitutional Litigation, Goldwater Institute

[ 

](https://twitter.com/timothysandefur) 

![Anthony Sanders cropped](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2023-04/anthony-sanders.jpeg?itok=DzpazOPE) 

Anthony Sanders 

Director of the Center for Judicial Engagement, Institute for Justice

[ 

](https://twitter.com/IJSanders) 

![Ethan Blevins](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-04/ethan-blevins.jpeg?itok=PY0k1d0E) 

Ethan Blevins 

Legal Fellow, Pacific Legal Foundation

![Joshua Polk](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2025-02/joshua-polk.jpeg?itok=5ZKOG9zR) 

Joshua Polk 

Attorney, Pacific Legal Foundation

[ 

](https://twitter.com/ghostoflochner) 

![Skylar Croy](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-04/skylar-croy.png?itok=jBWvSnh3) 

Skylar Croy 

Associate Counsel, Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty

[![Clark Neily](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Clark%20Neily.jpg?itok=kOJs7hwY)](/people/clark-neily) 

[Clark Neily](/people/clark-neily)

Senior Vice President for Legal Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](https://x.com/conlawwarrior) [ 

](mailto:cneily@cato.org) 

![Prashant Narang](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2024-04/Prashant-Narang.png?itok=8EuB5b8M) 

Prashant Narang 

Postdoctoral Researcher, the Knee Regulatory Research Center, West Virginia University

Most people would be hard‐​pressed to define the American Dream without some reference to economic freedom. From Benjamin Franklin (who had dozens of inventions, including bifocals and a flexible catheter), to self‐​made man Frederick Douglass, to entrepreneur and inventor Joy Mangano (who created the Miracle Mop), Americans believe that with a good idea and enough hard work, anyone can enjoy economic success—no matter the circumstances of their birth.

They’d be surprised, then, to learn that courts do very little to protect the right to earn a living. By all accounts, that precious right was intended to be a centerpiece of the Fourteenth Amendment. Yet federal courts have all but written it out of the Constitution. Despite vast scholarship by heavy hitters such as [Bernard Siegan](https://www.chapman.edu/law/_files/publications/CLR-6-bernard-siegan.pdf) and [Randy Barnett](https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/facpub/821/) and decades of public-interest litigation with sympathetic facts, the Supreme Court refuses to consider the right to earn a living a fundamental right protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. If we want the judiciary to protect economic freedom, it’s time to try something new.

Join us as scholars, researchers, and litigators discuss underexplored constitutional provisions and strategies for reviving protection for economic freedom.

## Schedule

9:00 - 9:15 AM 

**Opening Remarks by Anastasia Boden**

The total absence of judicial protection for economic freedom is a huge hole in civil rights law. How did we get here, and how can we move forward?

9:15 - 10:15 AM 

**Panel 1: Bringing Back Economic Liberty in State Courts**

**Timothy Sandefur** and **Anthony Sanders** discuss their experiences litigating in state courts and new ways for bringing back economic freedom at the state level. Moderated by **Anastasia Boden**.

10:15 - 10:30 AM 

**Coffee Break**

10:30 - 11:30 AM 

**Panel 2: How to Beat Cronyism**

**Ethan Blevins**, **Skylar Croy**, and **Joshua Polk** discuss the threat posed by the composition of licensing bodies, and ways that entrepreneurs can change the system. Moderated by **Clark Neily**.

11:30 - 11:45 AM 

**Snack Break**

11:45 AM - 12:15 PM 

**Lessons Learned from over a Century of Economic Liberty Litigation in India**

Drawing on his TedX Talk on the same subject, and using vivid imagery from India, **Prashant Narang** will explain the trajectory of the fight for economic freedom in Indian courts and lessons that may help litigators restore judicial protection in America.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).