Braunfeld v. Brown

Braunfeld v. Brown
Argued December 8, 1960
Decided May 29, 1961
Full case nameAbraham Braunfeld, et al. v. Brown, Commissioner of Police of Philadelphia, et al.
Citations366 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
PriorAppeal 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
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
PluralityWarren, joined by Black, Clark, Whittaker
ConcurrenceHarlan
Concur/dissentFrankfurter, joined by Harlan (in part)
Concur/dissentBrennan
DissentDouglas
DissentStewart
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

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.