Murdock v. Pennsylvania

Murdock v. Pennsylvania
Argued March 10–11, 1943
Decided May 3, 1943
Full case nameMurdock v. Pennsylvania
Citations319 U.S. 105 (more)
63 S. Ct. 870; 87 L. Ed. 1292; 1943 U.S. LEXIS 711
Holding
A Pennsylvania ordinance imposing a license tax for those selling merchandise when such material is religious in nature violates the Free Exercise Clause.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Harlan F. Stone
Associate Justices
Owen Roberts · Hugo Black
Stanley F. Reed · Felix Frankfurter
William O. Douglas · Frank Murphy
Robert H. Jackson · Wiley B. Rutledge
Case opinions
MajorityDouglas, joined by Stone, Black, Murphy, Rutledge
DissentReed, joined by Roberts, Frankfurter, Jackson
DissentFrankfurter, joined by Jackson
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amend. I

Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that an ordinance requiring door-to-door salespersons ("solicitors") to purchase a license was an unconstitutional tax on religious exercise.