Townhall
Strangling Life
By John Stossel
Jul 17, 2013 

There are now 175,000 pages' worth of federal laws. Local governments add more. 

I'm not so cynical that I think politicians pass laws just to control us. Someone always thinks: "This law is needed. This will protect people." 

But the cumulative effect of so many rules is to strangle life. 

Yet lawyers like George Washington Law professor John Banzhaf want more rules. 

Banzhaf requires his law students to sue people, just for practice. 

"And we keep winning!" he bragged to me. 

They do. But his legal "victories" hardly benefit the public. 

He and his students have sued Washington, D.C., hairdressers, and dry cleaners for "discrimination" because they charge women more. 

Of course, they charge women more for a reason. Women's haircuts take longer. "Women get pampered," said hairdresser Carolyn Carter. "Men just get a haircut." Women's clothing is more varied and doesn't always fit dry-cleaning machines. The market sorts out these differences through differing prices. 

But intrusive Washington, D.C., politicians write laws that say, "Discrimination ... cannot be justified by ... comparative characteristics of one group as opposed to another." 

So the poor defendants have to spend thousands on legal fees, while law students get their "practice." A Korean dry cleaners association "went through three or four high-powered law firms" defending itself, Banzhaf says with pride. 

Banzhaf's lawsuits even got "ladies' nights" banned at Washington, D.C., bars. Women liked "ladies' night." Men liked it because it brought more women into bars. Bars liked it; that's why they did it. But the practice violates the lawyers' concept of "equality." 

As if his lawsuits weren't obnoxious enough, the real irony is that the cost of the suits is passed on to future customers... 

Read the rest of the column at Townhall