What purpose do "Blue Laws" serve in the 21st Century?

Great Debates
1

I thought about posting this in The Pit, but I’m more curious than angry right now…

I am in the middle of cooking Easter dinner, when I realize that one recipe calls for 1/2 cup of white wine. I have no white wine, except the expensive bottle we were planning to drink with dinner. However, because it is Sunday, the government Powers That Be have chosen to forbid me from purchasing wine today. From any store inside the country. Whether or not that store would normally sell wine at all. I end up using some of the Chinese cooking wine that lives in my cupboard. (Rice wine can’t be that much different from grape wine, especially when it is being mixed with beef broth and 20 cloves of garlic…)

What bugs me is the fact that the “gumment” has decided that I do not have the right to purchase a product on the Sabbath, even though that product is available for legal purchase any day of the week.

For those who are not familiar with the term, “Blue Laws” refer to laws in certain (mostly Southern) states that prohibit the sale of specific items on Sunday. Growing up in North Carolina, this mainly applied to alcoholic drinks of any kind, although by the time I was of legal age to purchase them, wine and beer were available for sale after noon on Sunday, but stronger “spirits” cannot be purchased at all on Sunday. (As far as I know, that’s still the case.) Other Southern states had stricter laws, including forbidding the sale of anything related to work–like cleaning agents and cleaning tools. I believe that most of these restrictions are gone, but I could be wrong.

I am perfectly aware that the taxes on Sunday liquor sales are a driving force behind keeping some of these laws intact, but the only reason they apply to Sunday is because it is the Christian Sabbath. What about those of us who don’t really consider ourselves Christian??? Don’t these Sunday-only prohibitions run counter to the US Constitution? Are there other Blue Laws still on the books that aren’t related to alcohol?

2

http://college.hmco.com/history/readerscomp/rcah/html/ah_011100_bluelaws.htm

About three-fourths of the states still carry on their books laws imposing some kind of Sunday restriction on such activities as retail sales, general labor, liquor sales, boxing, hunting, or barbering, as well as polo, cockfighting, or clam digging. These laws have been challenged in federal courts as a violation of the Sherman Anti-trust Act and the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of religion. The Supreme Court has upheld them, starting with McGowan v. Maryland (1961), ruling that though the laws originated for religious reasons, the state has a right to set aside a day of rest for the well-being of its citizens.

We can’t buy alcohol on Sunday in Indiana either. I never really realized it was unconsitutional though, but it appears it is since its just an enforcement of the sabbath.

I can understand the ‘day of rest’ idea but that has more to do with labor unions and the idea of a weekend, 40 hour workweek or paid vacation. Not allowing people to buy alcohol on sunday has nothing to do with rest.

3

In the North, it’s mostly to protect retail workers and let them have at least one day they can gaurantee to have off. I worked at a government information office during the 1980s in Massachusetts as the Republican administrations, trumpeting convenience for consumers, knocked down most of the blue laws one by one. And sure enough, the calls started coming in soon about employers abusing the “voluntary” aspect of the law, and people being threatened into coming in on Sundays or else. There were also time and a half violations. And soon enough, to stay competitive, stores that had wanted to stay closed for their employees had to open or else, so it was a snowball effect.

However, I agree that IF a store is going to be open on Sunday it’s silly to have the booze locked up; some stores in MA have separate rooms that are locked up on Sundays, or at least have police tape strung across the beers.

4

Why can’t this be satisfied simply by passing a law that every employee must be given (at least) one day off per week, and leave the exact day up to the discretion of the employee/employer? I don’t really see a reason to impose Sunday as a “day of rest” specifically, especially since a good number of businesses are open on Sunday in the US anyway.

We lived in Bloomington, IN for many years, and that’s actually where it first started really bothering me. In North Carolina, anything stronger than beer or wine is sold in government-operated stores (ABC Stores), which are obviously closed on Sunday, just like the rest of the government. However, beer and wine are sold on Sundays–and every other day of the week–in grocery stores, convenience stores, etc. In Indiana, though, the beer and wine areas of otherwise normal retail stores are closed off or roped off on Sunday. It was somewhat reminiscent of stores in Texas many years ago where the cleaning supplies and hardware sections were roped off on Sunday, because those products could not be sold on Sunday.

Quote=Wesley Clark]I can understand the ‘day of rest’ idea but that has more to do with labor unions and the idea of a weekend, 40 hour workweek or paid vacation. Not allowing people to buy alcohol on sunday has nothing to do with rest.
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Nor does the purchase of alcohol on Sunday have anything to do with the consumption of alcohol on Sunday, which was presumably the original driving factor here. If I think about it ahead of time, I can go and buy as much liquor as I want on Saturday (I haven’t found any limits here in Kentucky, but maybe I just haven’t hit them, yet…), then drink it on Sunday, completely legally, as long as I don’t drive a car afterwards.

I can also go to any number of restaurants, bars, etc. and purchase alcohol by the drink on Sunday. The restaurant might have to pay higher taxes, but not me.

The whole thing seems quite illogical to me… Except for the money that some government level gets on Sunday liquor sales.

5

When I was little, which wasn’t that long ago as I’m 19, stores couldn’t open until 12 on Sunday and had to close at like 5. The store I work in still opens an hour later on Sunday. I think Blue Laws are ridiculous.

6

OK, I’ll be brave and admit my ignorance. How can there be taxes on Sunday liquor sales if there aren’t any Sunday liquor sales? :confused:

7

Bars and other restaurants that serve liquor normally have to purchase a Sunday Sales license in addition to the regular sales license that’s good every other day of the week.

8

This isn’t really a Southern thing. I’ve had problems finding myself in “dry counties” in New York before, and Pennsylvania is notoriously strict on alcohol sales, and that’s all 7 days of the week.

As for the reasoning? Eh mostly just tradition. Even most devout Christians don’t observe the rules about resting on Sunday properly.

I’ll never fail to be amazed that people don’t recognize the immense importance of tradition in our legal system, whether the tradition be bad, good, or just plain weird.

As for being unconstitutional, no it wouldn’t be. The government cannot make a law supporting a particular religious group or establishing an official religion. But aside from that there are a lot of things the government can do and does in fact do and the USSC has said is okay (In God We Trust, for example.)

9

OK. Thanks.

(They couldn’t just get rid of the Sunday license and raise the regular license accordingly?)

10

Blue laws are not only about buying or selling, but about anything regulated for religious reasons. In some places it was illegal to whistle on sunday, or wear some types of clothes (bare arms, etc).

Spelling and grammer subject to change with out notice.

11

So then why didn’t you go to a bar or restaurant to get a glass of wine for your cooking?

12

Because you can’t take alcohol out of a bar or restaurant (at least not in the US). You have to finish drinking it or leave it there when you leave.

Just a few years ago they got rid of the law in MA (or at least Boston) that prevented liquor stores from being open and alcohol being sold. You still can’t buy it in grocery stores like many other states, but some stores have found ways around this. For example, the newest Star Market at Copley has a liquor store within the grocery store. You have to pay seperately, but you can purchase both food and liquor at essentially the same location.