Two Guys From Harrison-Allentown, Inc. v. McGinley

Background

A large discount department store on a highway in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, challenged new 1959 state legislation that forbids the Sunday retail sale of a list of common goods and imposes fines. The county District Attorney had prosecuted some of the store’s employees under an older 1939 Sunday law, and the store sought a court order to stop enforcement of the 1959 provision on grounds it violated religious freedom and equal protection. A three-judge federal court refused injunctive relief and the store appealed.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the 1959 law amounted to a government establishment of religion or irrationally singled out certain goods and retailers. The Court examined the statutes’ words, the long legislative history, and recent amendments. It found traces of old religious language but concluded the current law’s purpose and effect were secular — focused on rest and economic concerns — and that the legislature could rationally target particular retail problems with higher penalties. The Court rejected the store’s equal-protection and establishment claims and affirmed the lower court’s decision, noting the case’s close relation to another Sunday-law decision decided the same day.

Real world impact

The decision permits Pennsylvania to enforce its selective Sunday sales ban and fines for listed retail items, affecting stores, their employees, and local enforcement. The Court did not finally decide every older Sunday statute because the lower court found no imminent prosecutions under the old law, so some legal questions could still arise later in state or lower federal proceedings.