Ferguson v. Skrupa DBA Credit Advisors - Broad Scope For State Legislatures

In deciding this case, Black and his fellow justices explicitly disavowed the Court's historical role in evaluating "the wisdom, need, or appropriateness" of legislation. While conceding that debt adjustment may in fact have some social utility, Black argued that state legislatures should be given "broad scope to experiment with economic problems." "We conclude that the Kansas Legislature was free to decide for itself that legislation was needed to deal with the business of debt adjusting," Black concluded. "If the State of Kansas wants to limit debt adjusting to lawyers, the Equal Protection Clause does not forbid it." Justice Harlan concurred in the Court's judgment "on the ground that this state measure bears a rational relation to a constitutionally permissible objective."