Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Equal Protection

Remember that guy from Wisconsin whom the state disallowed to give discounts on gasoline? Well, he's suing the state alleging that "the law, known as the Unfair Sales Act, makes it illegal for retailers to sell gasoline without marking it up either 6 percent over what they paid or 9.18 percent over the local wholesale price - whichever is higher" is illegal because it violates his constituional right to equal protection:

"Raj Bhandari argues in the lawsuit that Wisconsin's minimum markup law violates the state constitution's equal protection clause because retailers who sell gasoline are unfairly singled out for regulation.

"'I should be allowed to give whatever discounts I want to give to the people in order to run my business,' Bhandari told reporters Tuesday on the steps of the Dane County Courthouse in Madison."
While I agree that the law is completely unnecessary and should be stricken from the books, I'm not sure how well this argument about equal protection is going to fly. I expect Cato or Reason will have a more penetrating analysis soon.

HT: Fark headline

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