I couldn’t resist the overwrought pun in the headline after reading this (note that the Institute for Justice also couldn’t help punning this victory):
A federal court today ruled (read the court’s decision) that Louisiana’s government-imposed monopoly on casket sales in the state is unconstitutional, closing the lid on the economic protection scheme and resurrecting an opportunity for local monks to provide for themselves by creating and selling their handmade caskets. The monks of Saint Joseph Abbey of Saint Benedict, La., and the Institute for Justice, which represents the order in court, had filed suit to fight Louisiana’s government-imposed casket cartel.
Under Louisiana law, it was a crime for anyone but a government-licensed funeral director to sell “funeral merchandise,” which includes caskets. To sell caskets legally, the monks would have had to abandon their calling for one full year to apprentice at a licensed funeral home and convert their monastery into a “funeral establishment” by, among other things, installing equipment for embalming.
The John Locke Foundation’s Donna Martinez referenced the monks’ plight in a column in November:
The monks’ fate is now in the hands of the Institute for Justice. In August, IJ joined with the Abbey and filed a federal constitutional lawsuit against the Louisiana State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, seeking an affirmation of the monks’ right to make a living here on earth while helping others get closer to heaven.
It turns out the Institute for Justice’s hands were good ones to be in. Congratulations.
