evidence: Constitutional law scholars say that it’s uncommon, but not entirely unprecedented, for the U.S. Supreme Court to take away a constitutional right. In the 1930s, for example, the court repudiated a 1905 decision to protect "right of contract" under the 14th Amendment’s due process clause, which essentially allowed employers and employees to set their own terms of employment and previously led the court to strike down laws setting minimum wage, maximum hours and working conditions. In 1990, a Supreme Court decision reversed an earlier decision that had acknowledged the right to religious exemptions to "generally applicable" laws under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause.