Lochner / classical-liberal tradition
economic substantive due process, 1897–1937

The Lochner Court (1897-1937) developed a constitutional framework treating economic liberty as a substantive due-process right: courts should strike down progressive economic regulation that interfered with freedom of contract, property rights, and the unenumerated liberties classical liberalism treated as foundational. Both candidates align with the Lochner framework on economic deregulation, tax cuts, and the property-rights orientation. Cornyn earns more Lochner credit because his record doesn't carry the use-of-state-power-for-moral-regulation features that Lochner-era classical liberalism was also skeptical of (Paxton's Ten Commandments mandate, marijuana lawsuits, and use of AG power for cultural-conservative ends), and his free-trade posture is a closer fit to Lochner-era classical liberalism than the Trump-tariff framework Paxton has embraced. Both substantively favor the Lochner economic framework, with Cornyn the cleaner fit on classical-liberal principle.