GMAT Reading Comprehension

Reading Passage Question

In 1905, the Supreme Court of the United States decided on the case Lochner v. New York, and in doing so overturned the Bakeshop Act, which limited the number of hours that a baker could work per day to ten. The Court ruled that the Act removed a person's right to enter freely into contracts, which it construed as provided for by the 14th Amendment. The Court had previously determined through multiple rulings that the Due Process Clause, found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, was not merely a procedural guarantee, but also a substantive limitation on the type of control the government may exercise over individuals. Lochner set a precedent against the establishment of federal and state laws regulating working hours and wages. For example, in Adkins v. Children's Hospital, in 1923, the Court ruled that federal minimum wage legislation for women was an unconstitutional infringement of liberty of contract, as protected by due process.

Some subsequent development of human rights evolved on the basis of Lochner; for example, Adkins was a significant point in the women's rights movement in the U.S., as the legislature and justice department for decades debated whether to establish absolute equality of women or provide only special protections and regulations for them. Nevertheless, the Court overturned Adkins and undermined Lochner in deciding West Coast Hotel v. Parrish, in 1937. That ruling repudiated the idea that freedom of contract should be unrestricted and echoed after the fact the dissenting opinion of Justice Holmes in Adkins that there were plenty of constraints on contract, such as against usury. At the time of West Coast Hotel, whose outcome hinged on an unexpected shift in the habits of Associate Justice Roberts, the dissenting Justice Sutherland was critical of the prospect that interpretation of the Constitution had been influenced by strictly contemporary events--ostensibly, the pressures placed upon workers by the circumstances of the ongoing Great Depression. Time has evidently judged this criticism to have been incorrect, since, while Lochner influenced a ruling whose imprint still remains, individuals' freedom of contract is not deemed limited by reasonable laws to protect workers' health and safety.

“In 1905, the Supreme Court of the United States decided on the case”- is a GMAT reading comprehension passage with answers. Nominees must have a firm understanding of English GMAT reading comprehension. There are 7 comprehension questions in this GMAT Reading Comprehension section. GMAT Reading Comprehension questions are conducted to examine candidates' skills to decipher, interpret, and utilize knowledge or ideas. Candidates can actively prepare by answering GMAT Reading Comprehension Practice Questions.

Solutions and Explanation

1. According to the passage, which of the following was true of the ruling on the case Lochner v. New York?

1. It was influenced by strictly contemporary events.
2. It limited the number of hours that a baker could work per day to ten.
3. It was later overturned, prompting the West Coast Hotel case.
4. It reasserted an individual's right to enter freely into contracts.
5. It was determined over the course of multiple rulings.

2. The passage suggests that, if the rulings expressed in the highlighted lines were used as the basis for judging relevant labor issues, which of the following would be true?

1. Contracts other than employer-employee relationships that protected workers' health could not be broken.
2. The right of women to work in a safe environment would take precedence over the rights of other workers.
3. A law to protect workers' safety would be considered an infringement upon individuals' freedom of contract.
4. Contracts established before 1905 would be judged to have infringed upon workers' individual rights.
5. Contracts between employers and workers would be required to establish the maximum number of hours of labor per worker each week.

3. Which of the following most accurately summarizes the relationship between the ruling on West Coast Hotel v. Parrish and prior rulings discussed in the passage?

1. The ruling on the West Coast overturned Lochner, reinstating the legislation overturned by Lochner.
2. The ruling on the West Coast overturned a ruling that had depended in part on Lochner, leaving the result of Lochner intact but weakened.
3. The ruling on the West Coast overturned a prior interpretation of due process and asserted a new interpretation of women's rights.
4. The ruling on the West Coast overturned aspects of Lochner and Adkins, further constricting freedom of contract.
5. The ruling on the West Coast overturned Lochner and undermined Adkins, repudiating some ideas of freedom of contract.

4. The "unexpected shift" mentioned in the highlighted text of the passage is best described as

1. a reversal in one judge's opinion on the protection of workers that led to a similar reversal in the ruling of the Court
2. a shift in principle that led the Court to base its decision more than previously on strictly contemporary events affecting workers
3. a change of position in which Justice Roberts, who had sided with Justice Holmes in the ruling on Adkins, sided with Justice Sutherland in the ruling on West Coast Hotel
4. a shift in Justice Holmes' voting behavior that reflected a development in the Court's view on women's rights
5. the beginning of an era of more diverse views among the justices of the Court, who had previously been unified on matters of worker protection

5. The author cites the existence of constraints on contract against usury in order to do which of the following?

1. Clarify the view that the reasoning behind the ruling in Adkins was inconsistent with other legal precedent
2. Suggest that the protection of workers defended by the Court would extend behind the number of hours worked to other areas
3. Argue that women workers deserved protections that might not necessarily extend to men workers
4. Support the argument that prior considerations about due process should be reinstated in the Court's ruling on workers' protection
5. Expand the scope of human rights considered by the Court in the context of West Coast Hotel v. Parrish

6. The primary purpose of the passage is to

1. trace the development of laws defending the right of due process for male and female workers
2. explain some the Court's rulings on worker's rights that have influenced the present-day situation
3. question the legal criteria used to make judgments on the subject of the protection of worker's rights
4. identify the earliest date at which the Court ruled to establish protection of worker's rights
5. point out legal distinctions between different types of protection of workers

7. The passage suggests that, as of the time of the ruling on West Coast Hotel v. Parrish, pressures placed upon workers that are not strictly related to working hours are

1. guaranteed by the outcome of West Coast Hotel v. Parrish
2. unrestricted in employment contracts into which both parties enter freely
3. worth disregarding insofar as they appear to reflect strictly contemporary events
4. worth inhibiting to the extent they are as severe or more severe than those ruled upon in Lochner, Adkins, and West Coast Hotel
5. potentially subject to constraint through legislation

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