United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Williamson v. Lee Optical, Inc., 348 U.S. 483 (1955)

Williamson v. Lee Optical of Oklahoma, Inc.

No. 184

Argued March 2, 1955

Decided March 28, 1955*

348 U.S. 483

Syllabus

1. Provisions of an Oklahoma statute making it unlawful for any person not a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist to fit lenses to a face or to duplicate or replace into frames lenses or other optical appliances except upon written prescriptive authority of an Oklahoma licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist, are not invalid under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Roschen v. Ward, 279 U. S. 337. Pp. 348 U. S. 484-488.

2. To subject opticians to this regulatory system while exempting all sellers of ready-to-wear glasses does not violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 348 U. S. 488-489.

3. A provision making it unlawful to solicit the sale of frames, mountings or any other optical appliances does not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 348 U. S. 489-490.

4. A provision forbidding any retail merchandiser to rent space, sub-lease departments, or otherwise permit any person "purporting to do eye examination or visual care" to occupy space in a retail store does not violate the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Pp. 348 U. S. 490-491.

5. A provision making it unlawful to solicit the sale of spectacles, eyeglasses, lenses and prisms by the use of advertising media is constitutional. P. 348 U. S. 491.

120 F.Supp. 128, affirmed in part and reversed in part.

Page 348 U. S. 484