"dgs" > wrote in message
...
> wrote:
>
>> Well if it is not unconstitutional (I still think it is)
>
> Nope. It isn't. 21st Amendment, second clause:
>
> "The transportation or importation into any state, territory, or
> possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of
> intoxicating liquors, in violation of the laws thereof, is hereby
> prohibited."
>
> This clause gives the individual states, territories, and U.S.
> possessions the right to regulate the sale of alcohol beverages as
> they see fit. So, you still get states that forbid Sunday retail
> sales. Or, like where I live, the state forbids sales between 2AM
> and 6AM every day, and also controls hard liquor stores via a network
> of state-owned shops and licensed "agencies." Again, nothing
> unconstitutional about it, no matter what you think.
>
> You actually have read the U.S. Constitution and know what the
> amendments say, right?

Yeah, yeah, but...seems like Sunday no-sale laws, which are definitely based
on Christian-derived "day of rest" ideas, would violate the 1st Amendment:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof..." Or doe the 1st Amendment not cover
the states? Can a state then establish a state religion? It would appear
that they are, if they cause businesses to close on a day for reasons
obviously having to do with religion, but that hardly seems to jive with the
1st Amendment. I don't pretend to be a Constitutional scholar; what's the
story here?

And if the states are NOT allowed to establish religion... What wins, 1st
Amendment, or 21st?

--
Lew Bryson
"If developers intentionally built communities without local gathering
places and good sidewalks leading to them from every home, and did so for
the purpose of inhibiting the political processes of the society, we would
call it treason. Is the result any less negative without the intent?" -- Ray
Oldenburg, "The Great Good Place"
www.lewbryson.com
Author of "New York Breweries," and "Pennsylvania Breweries," 2nd ed.,
available at
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...272174-3121415