Murdock v. Pennsylvania

E74317

First Amendment case United States Supreme Court case free exercise of religion case freedom of speech case

Murdock v. Pennsylvania is a 1943 U.S. Supreme Court case that held it unconstitutional to impose a license tax on the distribution of religious literature, reinforcing First Amendment protections for religious proselytizing.

Aliases (1)

Murdock v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania ×1

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	First Amendment case → United States Supreme Court case → free exercise of religion case → freedom of speech case →
areaOfLaw	First Amendment law → constitutional law → freedom of speech → religious liberty →
argued	1943-03-10 → 1943-03-11 →
citation	319 U.S. 105 →
citedIn	Follett v. Town of McCormick → Watchtower Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc. v. Village of Stratton →
constitutionalProvisionInvolved	First Amendment to the United States Constitution → Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution →
court	Supreme Court of the United States →
decisionDate	1943-05-03 →
decisionType	landmark decision →
dissentingOpinionBy	Justice Felix Frankfurter → Justice Robert H. Jackson →
docketNumber	480 →
fullCaseName	Murdock v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania →
holding	A flat license tax on the distribution of religious literature is unconstitutional as applied to religious colporteurs → Freedom of press, speech, and religion cannot be conditioned on the payment of a license tax → The First Amendment prohibits imposing a license tax on the exercise of religious proselytizing and distribution of religious literature →
joinedByInMajority	Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone → Justice Frank Murphy → Justice Hugo L. Black → Justice Owen J. Roberts → Justice Wiley B. Rutledge →
jurisdiction	Commonwealth of Pennsylvania →
legalIssue	whether a municipality may impose a flat license tax on the distribution of religious literature →
majorityOpinionBy	Justice William O. Douglas NERFINISHED →
overturnedOrLimitedTaxRegime	municipal license tax on door-to-door distribution of literature →
page	105 →
partyType	religious colporteurs →
precedentFor	invalidating license taxes burdening First Amendment rights → protection of door-to-door religious solicitation →
ratioDecidendi	The power to tax the exercise of a constitutional privilege is the power to control or suppress its enjoyment →
relatedCase	Cantwell v. Connecticut → Jones v. City of Opelika → Lovell v. City of Griffin →
relatedConcept	Jehovah's Witnesses → free exercise of religion → freedom of the press → religious proselytizing →
reporter	United States Reports →
volume	319 →
yearDecided	1943 →

Referenced by (3)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Murdock v. Pennsylvania ("Murdock v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania") →	fullCaseName
United States Supreme Court cases of the Stone Court →	includesCase
Cantwell v. Connecticut →	relatedCase