Is Davis-Bacon unconstitutional?

Mickey Kaus Columnist
Font Size:

Is the Davis-Bacon Act–the federal law that inflates the cost of government construction and keeps unions in business by requiring payment of “prevailing wages”–unconstitutional? Newsalert posts this still-relevant 1993 Cato Institute argument. … If the case turns on the discriminatory or racist “intent” of those who first passed the law, Davis-Bacon is in trouble.  I’ve never been comfortable with using legislators’ “intent” as the test of constitutionality–as opposed to what a law is and does–but I’m not the Supreme Court. …

P.S.: Even Minnesota is thinking of relaxing its local version of Davis-Bacon. But Minnesota’s state-determined “prevailing wage” is even higher than the federal “prevailing wage.” The proposed reform would simply let it slide down to the federal level. Not Wingnutty enough! …