Some argue that Lochner is wrong because it stands for unprincipled judicial activism through the expansion of the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment. ... On this view, Lochner was largely overturned through a line of cases beginning with West Coast Hotel Co.

Why the Lochner era was bad?

The Lochner era has been criticized from the left for judicial activism, routinely overturning the will of Congress, and also for the Court's failure to allow the political process to redress increasingly unequal distributions of wealth and power.

Why is Lochner v New York controversial?

Lochner v. New York, controversial from the time it was decided, rendered the judiciary a consistent adversary to legislatures for more than 30 years. Time and time again, the Supreme Court struck down laws regulating labor conditions, construing them as repugnant to the Fourteenth Amendment.