(The Lion)–The Arizona Supreme Court is set to hear a case on Tuesday over engineer licensing that could have ripple effects for economic freedom nationwide.
The case centers around Greg Mills, an engineer who designs electronic circuits for items such as flashlights and satellites, according to the Institute for Justice, which represents him. After he started his own business, Arizona officials said it was illegal, attempting to force him to obtain a professional engineer license.
Mills argues the license is irrelevant to his work on electronics, as it primarily covers engineers who work on buildings and infrastructure – and that the lengthy and time-consuming process is unfairly burdening his economic liberty.
The Goldwater Institute, which filed an amicus brief in the case, urged Arizona’s high court to “extend full constitutional protection to the right to earn a living,” calling it “perhaps the most vital and neglected of our constitutional freedoms.”
“We definitely are hopeful for a good outcome in this case,” Goldwater vice president for legal affairs Timothy Sandefur told The Lion. The right to earn a living is “as important a right, legally speaking, as your right to freedom of speech or freedom of religion or your right to travel or your right to vote.”
Yet in recent decades, the courts have strongly upheld the other rights while looking the other way on economic freedom issues, he said.
“That’s really amazing, considering that private property is mentioned more often in the Constitution than any other right, and economic liberty is the cornerstone of what we call the American dream,” Sandefur added. “So, we are hopeful that the court will say that and give it the same legal protections it gives to these other rights.”
In Arizona’s Constitution, “freedom of religion is mentioned only a single time,” he added, but economic freedom and its synonyms are “mentioned over 100 times.”
Other state Supreme Courts in recent years, including in Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina, have affirmed economic freedom as an important right, he noted. If Arizona’s court rules similarly, he said, other state courts could “look at their constitutions and see if they find the Arizona court’s ruling persuasive or not,” leading to nationwide implications.
A ruling in Mills’ favor wouldn’t have a huge immediate effect on state laws restricting businesses, Sandefur noted, but would rather ensure that “if the government unduly interferes with your choice to start a business or take a job or your right to earn a living, you would have the chance to go to court to defend yourself.”
Moreover, the ruling would extend far beyond engineer licensing to industries across the state.
