| Braunfeld v. Brown | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued December 8, 1960 Decided May 29, 1961 | |
| Full case name | Abraham Braunfeld, et al. v. Brown, Commissioner of Police of Philadelphia, et al. |
| Citations | 366 U.S. 599 (more) 81 S. Ct. 1144; 6 L. Ed. 2d 563; 1961 U.S. LEXIS 1059; 42 Lab. Cas. (CCH) ¶ 50,260; 17 Ohio Op. 2d 241 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania |
| Holding | |
| Where the "purpose or effect of a law is to impede the observance of one or all religions or is to discriminate invidiously between religions, that law is constitutionally invalid even though the burden may be characterized as being only indirect."
However, where "the State regulates conduct by enacting a general law within its power, the purpose and effect of which is to advance the State's secular goals, the statute is valid despite its indirect burden on religious observance unless the State may accomplish its purpose by means which do not impose such a burden." In this specific case, a law requiring all merchants to close on Sunday was not unconstitutional, despite indirect burdens on some Orthodox Jewish merchants. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Plurality | Warren, joined by Black, Clark, Whittaker |
| Concurrence | Harlan |
| Concur/dissent | Frankfurter, joined by Harlan (in part) |
| Concur/dissent | Brennan |
| Dissent | Douglas |
| Dissent | Stewart |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599 (1961), was a landmark case on the issue of religious and economic liberty decided by the United States Supreme Court. In a 6–3 decision, the Court held that a Pennsylvania blue law forbidding the sale of various retail products on Sunday was not an unconstitutional interference with religion as described in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.