Ferguson v. Skrupa, 372 U.S. 726 (1963)

Ferguson v. Skrupa


No. 111


Argued March 20, 1963
Decided April 22, 1963
372 U.S. 726

APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF KANSAS

Syllabus

1. A Kansas statute making it a misdemeanor for any person to engage "in the business of debt adjusting" except as an incident to "the lawful practice of law" does not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, since States have power to legislate against what they consider to be injurious practices in their internal commercial and business affairs, so long as their laws do not conflict with some specific federal constitutional prohibition or some valid federal law. Pp. 726-732.

2. The statute’s exception of lawyers is not a denial of equal protection of the laws to nonlawyers. Pp. 732-733.

210 F.Supp. 299, reversed.