Braunfeld v. Brown
Case Date: 07/01/1961
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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
Chief Justice
Earl Warren
Associate Justices
Hugo Black · Felix Frankfurter
William O. Douglas · Tom C. Clark
John M. Harlan II · William J. Brennan, Jr.
Charles E. Whittaker · Potter Stewart
Case opinions
Majority
Warren, joined by Black, Clark, Whittaker
Concur/dissent
Frankfurter, joined by Harlan
Concur/dissent
Brennan
Concur/dissent
Harlan
Dissent
Douglas
Dissent
Stewart
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Braunfeld v. Brown
Braunfeld v. Brown, 366 U.S. 599 (1961), was a case decided by the United States Supreme Court. In a 6-3 decision, the Court held that a Pennsylvania 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.
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