Re:Slaughterhouse Cases (Score 1)

Unfortunately, the Slaughterhouse Cases already determined that a state-run cartel can push out individuals not meeting specific criteria.

Such a right to "sustain ones life through labor" simply does not exist at the Federal level...

Just a note on your use of the Slaughter-House cases as an example. Primarily in that FIRST instance of the use of the 14th amendment for the plaintiff was the case decided for the defendant. This is a quote from the wiki article regarding the 4 justices who voted for the plaintiff. Future cases used this reading of the amendment to quash state run cartels:

Justice Stephen J. Field, joined by three other justices, wrote an influential dissent in which he accepted Campbell's reading of the amendment as not confined to protection of freed slaves, but rather as embracing the common law presumption in favor of an individual right to pursue a legitimate occupation. Field's reading of the due process clause of the amendment would prevail in future cases in which the court read the amendment broadly to protect property interests against hostile state laws.