Blue Laws

Great Debates
21

I would imagine some state’s attorney would argue (probably successfully) that there is enough “secular intent” behind the law, such as reducing drunk driving or some such hooey, that the law serves a secular purpose without recourse to First Amendment relief. Doesn’t quite explain why I can’t buy beer between midnight and 1:00pm on Sunday, but I can buy it at 1:01pm.>>>> Phil

`Twas already done, Phil, and taken all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court some 40 years ago, with the Court holding that Sunday closing laws were constitutional. It was
McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961).

SoxFan59
“Its fiction, but all the facts are true!”

22

Tracer:

The anti-slacks rules were generally enforced up to around 1964-1968 (depending on where you lived). The skirts at that time hovered around the knee. Some were narrow at the hem (producing a rather awkward walk for a woman in a hurry), but they weren’t form-fitting at that time. Mini-skirts came in around 1965 (first shown in '64, but they didn’t really catch on right away). (Hot pants were, technically, 1970’s, I think, although there were “1960’s era”.)

Tom~

23

I suspect the nopants rule(for women now!) was because pants would make women more confident about moving around,sitting,being active. Society may have wanted women to just sit there nice and sweet!

24

I don’t know about anybody else, but I’m completely in favor of a no-pants rule for women.

Oh, wait, you mean they have to wear something else instead? Darnit…

25

Thanks for the cite, Sox. I looked up the case.

At least Justice Douglas understood that providing for a day free from work and for mental recovery begs the question of why it need be uniformly made Sunday.

“I love God! He’s so deliciously evil!” - Stewie Griffin, Family Guy

26

Notice at my above post that I told about Keene, Texas, observing blue laws on Saturday, not Sunday. IIRC, the Texas Legislature allowed the local governments to decide which day to observe when they passed the blue laws. Justice Douglas could not have objected to this, I’m guessing. BTW, the blue laws in Texas have been relaxed. When I was a kid, even the major shopping malls in Dallas and Fort Worth were closed on Sundays. The only things open in the malls were restaurants and movie theaters.

And the matter of buying and selling alochol is moot since Keene is in Johnson County, which is dry and the 7th-Day Adventists wouldn’t have allowed it, anyway!

Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to relive it. Georges Santayana