A half-cent milk freight reduction made landmark constitutional history.

Evidence

In time, Bradley’s idea won more converts on the Court. In Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railway Company v. Minnesota (1890), Minnesota had established a railroad and warehouse commission and had given it the power to fix freight rates. The commission ordered the railroad to reduce freight rates from three cents a gallon to not more than two and a half cents a gallon, on milk transported from Owatonna, Faribault, Dundas, Northfield, and Farmington, to St. Paul and Minneapolis. This half cent a gallon made legal history. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2022

Categorization

• CANDY: The tiny half-cent milk rate that launched a constitutional revolution is a great memorable anecdote for class discussion.