A cartel of state-licensed funeral directors has been fleecing Maryland consumers to the tune of $800 per funeral for decades. The law that created this Maryland funeral cartel is unfair, immoral and unconscionable. A federal appeals court will soon decide whether it is also unconstitutional. The stakes are high: With 43,000 deaths per year in Maryland, the funeral cartel stands to lose tens of millions of dollars per year in unearned monopoly profits, and it certainly won’t let that happen without a fight.

Alone among the states, Maryland law provides that only state-licensed funeral directors may own funeral homes. Now, it’s one thing to say that anyone who wants to conduct a funeral has to be a licensed funeral director, but it’s another thing to say that only licensed funeral directors may own funeral homes. That’s like saying only licensed pilots can own airlines. And guess who spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbyists to thwart public-spirited reform efforts and prevent the Maryland funeral industry from being opened up to fair competition the way it is in other states? Why, state-licensed funeral directors of course.