Gallagher v. Crown Kosher Super Market of Massachusetts, Inc.

Gallagher v. Crown Kosher Super Market of Massachusetts, Inc. was a case that was argued before the Supreme Court of the United States December 7-8, 1960 and decided May 29, 1961 that declared that a kosher butcher store had to abide by the state laws that banned them from selling on Sunday.

The owners of the Crown Kosher Super Market of Massachusetts were Orthodox Jews whose religion forbids them to shop or sell on their Sabbath (from sundown on Friday until sundown on Saturday) and requires them to eat only kosher food, were keeping their store open on Sunday at times when it was against the Massachusetts state law.

They sued in a Federal District Court to make certain sections of the Massachusetts Sunday Closing Laws unconstitutional.specifically "the selling or delivering of kosher meat by any person who, according to his religious belief, observes Saturday as the Lord's day by closing his place of business during the day until six o'clock in the afternoon, or the keeping open of his shop on the Lord's day for the sale of kosher meat between the hours of six o'clock and ten o'clock in the forenoon"

The store had formerly been open for business all day on Sundays and had done about a third of its weekly business then. It was closed from sundown on Fridays until sundown on Saturdays. The store had claimed that it was economically impractical for it to keep open on Saturday nights and until 10 a. m. on Sundays and many who bought at the store wouldn't have been able to get meat from Friday afternoon till Monday.

The court 6-3 approved of the state law due to the laws not being exclusively religious."An examination of recent Massachusetts legislative history bolsters the State's position that these statutes are not religious. "In general, Sunday laws protect the public by guaranteeing one day in seven to provide a period of rest and quiet. Health, peace, and good order of society are thereby promoted. Such provision is essentially civil in character, and the statutes are not regarded as religious ordinances.""Also on the issue of free exercise of religion they stated"Secondly, appellees contend that the application to them of the Sunday Closing Laws prohibits the free exercise of their religion. Crown alleges that, if it is required by law to abstain from business on Sunday, then, because its owners' religion demands closing from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, Crown will be open only four and one-half days a week, thereby suffering extreme economic disadvantage. Crown's Orthodox Jewish customers allege that, because their religious beliefs forbid their shopping on the Jewish Sabbath, the statutes' effect is to deprive them, from Friday afternoon until Monday of each week, of the opportunity to purchase the kosher food sanctioned by their faith. The orthodox rabbis allege that the statutes' effect greatly complicates their task of supervising the condition of kosher meat because the meat delivered on Friday would have to be kept until Monday. Furthermore, appellees contend that, because of all this, the statutes discriminate against their religion.These allegations are similar, although not as grave, as those made by appellants in Braunfeld v. Brown, ante, p. 366 U. S. 599. Since the decision in that case rejects the contentions presented by these appellees on the merits, we need not decide whether appellees have standing to raise these questions. "

Justices William O. Douglas, William J. Brennan, Jr. and Potter Stewart were the dissenting opinions.

Gallagher was the Chief of Police of the City of Springfield, Massachusetts.

This was one of the four cases decided in 1961 that declared the blue laws constitutional. The other three were "Braunfeld v. Brown", "Two Guys from Harrison-Allentown, Inc., v. McGinley", and "McGowan v. Maryland". [ [http://worldincrisis.org/NSLC/NSLC-9.htm The LANDMARK Cases] , National Sunday Law Crisis. Accessed May 21, 2008.]

External links

* [http://supreme.justia.com/us/366/617/case.html#618 Gallagher v. Crown Kosher Super Market, 366 U. S. 617 (1961)] at Justia.com