Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/319/105/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 06:42:54+00:00

Document:
1. A municipal ordinance which, as construed and applied, requires religious colporteurs to pay a license tax as a condition to the pursuit of their activities, is invalid under the Federal Constitution as a denial of freedom of speech, press and religion. Pp. 319 U. S. 108-110.
2. The mere fact that the religious literature is "sold", rather than "donated" does not transform the activities of the colporteur into a commercial enterprise. P. 319 U. S. 111.
3. Upon the record in these cases, it cannot be said that "Jehovah's Witnesses" were engaged in a commercial, rather than in a religious, venture. P. 319 U. S. 111.
4. A State may not impose a charge for the enjoyment of a right granted by the Federal Constitution. P. 319 U. S. 113.
5. The flat license tax here involved restrains in advance the Constitutional liberties of press and religion, and inevitably tends to suppress their exercise. P. 319 U. S. 114.
6. That the ordinance is "nondiscriminatory," in that it applies also to peddlers of wares and merchandise, is immaterial. The liberties guaranteed by the First Amendment are in a preferred position. P. 319 U. S. 115.
7. Since the privilege in question is guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, and exists independently of state authority, the inquiry as to whether the State has given something for which it can ask a return is irrelevant. P. 319 U. S. 115.
8. A community may not suppress, or the State tax, the dissemination of views because they are unpopular, annoying, or distasteful. P. 319 U. S. 116.
9. The assumption that the ordinance has been construed to apply only to solicitation from house to house cannot sustain it, since it is not narrowly drawn to prevent or control abuses or evil arising from that particular type of activity. P. 319 U. S. 117.
149 Pa.Super. 175, 27 A.2d 666, reversed.
CERTIORARI, 318 U.S. 748, to review affirmances of orders in eight cases refusing to allow appeals from judgments and sentences for violations of a municipal ordinance.
"That all persons canvassing for or soliciting within said Borough, orders for goods, paintings, pictures, wares, or merchandise of any kind, or persons delivering such articles under orders so obtained or solicited, shall be required to procure from the Burgess a license to transact said business and shall pay to the Treasurer of said Borough therefore the following sums according to the time for which said license shall be granted."
"For one day $1.50, for one week seven dollars ($7.00), for two weeks twelve dollars ($12.00), for three weeks twenty dollars ($20.00), provided that the provisions of this ordinance shall not apply to persons selling by sample to manufacturers or licensed merchants or dealers doing business in said Borough of Jeannette."
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society. [Footnote 1] The "price" of the books was twenty-five cents each, the "price" of the pamphlets five cents each. [Footnote 2] In connection with these activities, petitioners used a phonograph [Footnote 3] on which they played a record expounding certain of their views on religion. None of them obtained a license under the ordinance. Before they were arrested, each had made "sales" of books. There was evidence that it was their practice in making these solicitations to request a "contribution" of twenty-five cents each for the books and five cents each for the pamphlets, but to accept lesser sums or even to donate the volumes in case an interested person was without funds. In the present case, some donations of pamphlets were made when books were purchased. Petitioners were convicted and fined for violation of the ordinance. Their judgments of conviction were sustained by the Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 149 Pa.Super.Ct. 175, 27 A.2d 666, against their contention that the ordinance deprived them of the freedom of speech, press, and religion guaranteed by the First Amendment. Petitions for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania were denied. The cases are here on petitions for writs of certiorari which we granted along with the petitions for rehearing of Jones v. Opelika, 316 U. S. 584, and its companion cases.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press . . ."
It could hardly be denied that a tax laid specifically on the exercise of those freedoms would be unconstitutional. Yet the license tax imposed by this ordinance is, in substance, just that.
Petitioners spread their interpretations of the Bible and their religious beliefs largely through the hand distribution of literature by full- or part-time workers. [Footnote 4] They claim to follow the example of Paul, teaching "publickly, and from house to house." Acts 20:20. They take literally the mandate of the Scriptures, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15. In doing so, they believe that they are obeying a commandment of God.
upon thousands of homes and seek through personal visitations to win adherents to their faith. [Footnote 7] It is more than preaching; it is more than distribution of religious literature. It is a combination of both. Its purpose is as evangelical as the revival meeting. This form of religious activity occupies the same high estate under the First Amendment as do worship in the churches and preaching from the pulpits. It has the same claim to protection as the more orthodox and conventional exercises of religion. It also has the same claim as the others to the guarantees of freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
The integrity of this conduct or behavior as a religious practice has not been challenged. Nor do we have presented any question as to the sincerity of petitioners in their religious beliefs and practices, however misguided they may be thought to be. Moreover, we do not intimate or suggest in respecting their sincerity that any conduct can be made a religious rite and by the zeal of the practitioners swept into the First Amendment. Reynolds v.
United States, 98 U. S. 145, 98 U. S. 161-167, and Davis v. Beason, 133 U. S. 333, denied any such claim to the practice of polygamy and bigamy. Other claims may well arise which deserve the same fate. We only hold that spreading one's religious beliefs or preaching the Gospel through distribution of religious literature and through personal visitations is an age-old type of evangelism with as high a claim to constitutional protection as the more orthodox types. The manner in which it is practiced at times gives rise to special problems with which the police power of the states is competent to deal. See, for example, Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U. S. 569, and Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U. S. 568. But that merely illustrates that the rights with which we are dealing are not absolutes. Schneider v. State, 308 U. S. 147, 308 U. S. 160-161. We are concerned, however, in these cases merely with one narrow issue. There is presented for decision no question whatsoever concerning punishment for any alleged unlawful acts during the solicitation. Nor is there involved here any question as to the validity of a registration system for colporteurs and other solicitors. The cases present a single issue -- the constitutionality of an ordinance which, as construed and applied, requires religious colporteurs to pay a license tax as a condition to the pursuit of their activities.
the distribution of purely commercial leaflets, even though such leaflets may have 'a civic appeal, or a moral platitude' appended. Valentine v. Chrestensen, 16 U. S. 52, 16 U. S. 55. They may not prohibit the distribution of handbills in the pursuit of a clearly religious activity merely because the handbills invite the purchase of books for the improved understanding of the religion or because the handbills seek in a lawful fashion to promote the raising of funds for religious purposes."
that petitioners "sold" the literature. The Supreme Court of Iowa, in State v. Mead, 230 Iowa 1217, 300 N.W. 523, 524, described the selling activities of members of this same sect as "merely incidental and collateral" to their "main object, which was to preach and publicize the doctrines of their order." And see State v. Meredith, 197 S.C. 351, 15 S.E.2d 678; People v. Barber, 289 N.Y. 378, 385-386, 46 N.E.2d 329. That accurately summarizes the present record.
We do not mean to say that religious groups and the press are free from all financial burdens of government. See Grosjean v. American Press Co., 297 U. S. 233, 297 U. S. 250. We have here something quite different, for example, from a tax on the income of one who engages in religious activities or a tax on property used or employed in connection with those activities. It is one thing to impose a tax on the income or property of a preacher. It is quite another thing to exact a tax from him for the privilege of delivering a sermon. The tax imposed by the City of Jeannette is a flat license tax, the payment of which is a condition of the exercise of these constitutional privileges. The power to tax the exercise of a privilege is the power to control or suppress its enjoyment. Magnano Co. v. Hamilton, 292 U. S. 40, 292 U. S. 44-45, and cases cited. Those who can tax the exercise of this religious practice can make its exercise so costly as to deprive it of the resources necessary for its maintenance. Those who can tax the privilege of engaging in this form of missionary evangelism can close its doors to all those who do not have a full purse. Spreading religious beliefs in this ancient and honorable manner would thus be denied the needy. Those who can deprive religious groups of their colporteurs can take from them a part of the vital power of the press which has survived from the Reformation.
imposed as a regulatory measure to defray the expense of policing the activities in question. [Footnote 8] It is in no way apportioned. It is a flat license tax levied and collected as a condition to the pursuit of activities whose enjoyment is guaranteed by the First Amendment. Accordingly, it restrains in advance those constitutional liberties of press and religion, and inevitably tends to suppress their exercise. That is almost uniformly recognized as the inherent vice and evil of this flat license tax. As stated by the Supreme Court of Illinois in a case involving this same sect and an ordinance similar to the present one, a person cannot be compelled "to purchase, through a license fee or a license tax, the privilege freely granted by the constitution." [Footnote 9] Blue Island v. Kozul, 379 Ill. 511, 519, 41 N.E.2d 515. So it may not be said that proof is lacking that these license taxes, either separately or cumulatively, have restricted or are likely to restrict petitioners' religious activities. On their face, they are a restriction of the free exercise of those freedoms which are protected by the First Amendment.
of the press and religion as the "taxes on knowledge" at which the First Amendment was partly aimed. Grosjean v. American Press Co., supra, pp. 297 U. S. 244-249. They may indeed operate even more subtly. Itinerant evangelists moving throughout a state or from state to state would feel immediately the cumulative effect of such ordinances as they become fashionable. The way of the religious dissenter has long been hard. But if the formula of this type of ordinance is approved, a new device for the suppression of religious minorities will have been found. This method of disseminating religious beliefs can be crushed and closed out by the sheer weight of the toll or tribute which is exacted town by town, village by village. The spread of religious ideas through personal visitations by the literature ministry of numerous religious groups would be stopped.
The fact that the ordinance is "nondiscriminatory" is immaterial. The protection afforded by the First Amendment is not so restricted. A license tax certainly does not acquire constitutional validity because it classifies the privileges protected by the First Amendment along with the wares and merchandise of hucksters and peddlers, and treats them all alike. Such equality in treatment does not save the ordinance. Freedom of press, freedom of speech, freedom of religion are in a preferred position.
It is claimed, however, that the ultimate question in determining the constitutionality of this license tax is whether the state has given something for which it can ask a return. That principle has wide applicability. State Tax Commission v. Aldrich, 316 U. S. 174, and cases cited. But it is quite irrelevant here. This tax is not a charge for the enjoyment of a privilege or benefit bestowed by the state. The privilege in question exists apart from state authority. It is guaranteed the people by the Federal Constitution.
abusive, and ill-mannered character and the assault which it makes on our established churches and the cherished faiths of many of us. See Douglas v. Jennette, concurring opinion, post, p. 319 U. S. 166. But those considerations are no justification for the license tax which the ordinance imposes. Plainly, a community may not suppress, or the state tax, the dissemination of views because they are unpopular, annoying or distasteful. If that device were ever sanctioned, there would have been forged a ready instrument for the suppression of the faith which any minority cherishes but which does not happen to be in favor. That would be a complete repudiation of the philosophy of the Bill of Rights.
supra, pp. 312 U. S. 576-577. Nor can the present ordinance survive if we assume that it has been construed to apply only to solicitation from house to house. [Footnote 10] The ordinance is not narrowly drawn to prevent or control abuses or evils arising from that activity. Rather, it sets aside the residential areas as a prohibited zone, entry of which is denied petitioners unless the tax is paid. That restraint and one which is city-wide in scope (Jones v. Opelika) are different only in degree. Each is an abridgment of freedom of press and a restraint on the free exercise of religion. They stand or fall together.
The judgment in Jones v. Opelika has this day been vacated. Freed from that controlling precedent, we can restore to their high, constitutional position the liberties of itinerant evangelists who disseminate their religious beliefs and the tenets of their faith through distribution of literature. The judgments are reversed, and the causes are remanded to the Pennsylvania Superior Court for proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
* Together with No. 481, Perisich v. Pennsylvania (City of Jeannette), No. 482, Mowder v. Pennsylvania (City of Jeannette), No. 483, Seders v. Pennsylvania (City of Jeannette), No. 484, Lamborn v. Pennsylvania (City of Jeannette), No. 485, Maltezos v. Pennsylvania (City of Jeannette), No. 486, Anastasia Tzanes v. Pennsylvania (City of Jeannette), and No. 487, Ellaine Tzanes v. Pennsylvania (City of Jeannette), also on writs of certiorari, 318 U.S. 748, to the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
Two religious books -- Salvation and Creation -- were sold. Others were offered in addition to the Bible. The Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society is alleged to be a nonprofit charitable corporation.
Petitioners paid three cents each for the pamphlets and, if they devoted only their spare time to the work, twenty cents each for the books. Those devoting full time to the work acquired the books for five cents each. There was evidence that some of the petitioners paid the difference between the sales price and the cost of the books to their local congregations, which distributed the literature.
Purchased along with the record from the Watch Tower Bible Tract Society.
The nature and extent of their activities throughout the world during the years 1939 and 1940 are to be found in the 1941 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses, pp. 62-243.
White, The Colporteur Evangelist (1930); Home Evangelization (1850); Edwards, The Romance of the Book (1932) c. V; 12 Biblical Repository (1844) Art. VIII; 16 The Sunday Magazine (1887) pp. 43-47; 3 Meliora (1861) pp. 311-319; Felice, Protestants of France (1853) pp. 53, 513; 3 D'Aubigne, History of The Reformation (1849) pp. 103, 152, 436-437; Report of Colportage in Virginia, North Carolina & South Carolina, American Tract Society (1855). An early type of colporteur was depicted by John Greenleaf Whittier in his legendary poem, The Vaudois Teacher. And see Wylie, History of the Wadenses.
The General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, who filed a brief amicus curiae on the reargument of Jones v. Opelika, has given us the following data concerning their literature ministry: this denomination has 83 publishing houses throughout the world, issuing publications in over 200 languages. Some 9,256 separate publications were issued in 1941. By printed and spoken word, the Gospel is carried into 412 countries in 824 languages. 1942 Yearbook, p. 287. During December, 1941, a total of 1,018 colporteurs operated in North America. They delivered during that month $97,997.19 worth of gospel literature, and, for the whole year of 1941, a total of $790,610.36 -- an average per person of about $65 per month. Some of these were students and temporary workers. Colporteurs of this denomination receive half of their collections, from which they must pay their traveling and living expenses. Colporteurs are specially trained, and their qualifications equal those of preachers. In the field, each worker is under the supervision of a field missionary secretary, to whom a weekly report is made. After fifteen years of continuous service, each colporteur is entitled to the same pension as retired ministers. And see Howell, The Great Advent Movement (1935), pp. 72-75.
The constitutional difference between such a regulatory measure and a tax on the exercise of a federal right has long been recognized. While a state may not exact a license tax for the privilege of carrying on interstate commerce (McGoldrick v. Berwind-White Co., supra, pp. 309 U. S. 56-58), it may, for example, exact a fee to defray the cost of purely local regulations in spite of the fact that those regulations incidentally affect commerce.
"So long as they do not impede the free flow of commerce, and are not made the subject of regulation by Congress. they are not forbidden. Clyde Mallory Lines v. Alabama, 296 U. S. 261, 296 U. S. 267, and cases cited. And see South Carolina Highway Dept. v. Barnwell Bros., 303 U. S. 177, 303 U. S. 185-188."
The Pennsylvania Superior Court stated that the ordinance has been "enforced" only to prevent petitioners from canvassing "from door to door and house to house" without a license, and not to prevent them from distributing their literature on the streets. 149 Pa.Super.Ct., p. 14, 27 A.2d 670.
The following dissenting opinions are applicable to Nos. 280, 314, and 966 (October Term, 1941), Jones v. Opelika, ante, p. 319 U. S. 103, and to Nos. 480-487, Murdock v. Pennsylvania, ante, p. 319 U. S. 105. See also opinion of MR. JUSTICE JACKSON, post, p. 319 U. S. 166.
and pamphlets in the streets or from door to door. Decisions sustaining the particular ordinances were entered in the three cases first listed at the last term of this Court. In that opinion, the ordinances were set out, and the facts and issues stated. Jones v. Opelika, 316 U. S. 584. A rehearing has been granted. The present judgments vacate the old, and invalidate the ordinances. The eight cases of this term involve canvassing from door to door only under similar ordinances, which are in the form stated in the Court's opinion. By a per curiam opinion of this day, the Court affirms its acceptance of the arguments presented by the dissent of last term in Jones v. Opelika. The Court states its position anew in the Jeannette cases.
This dissent does not deal with an objection which theoretically could be made in each case, to-wit, that the licenses are so excessive in amount as to be prohibitory. This matter is not considered because that defense is not relied upon in the pleadings, the briefs or at the bar. No evidence is offered to show the amount is oppressive. An unequal tax, levied on the activities of distributors of informatory publications, would be a phase of discrimination against the freedom of speech, press, or religion. Nor do we deal with discrimination against the petitioners, as individuals or as members of the group, calling themselves Jehovah's Witnesses. There is no contention in any of these cases that such discrimination is practiced in the application of the ordinances. Obviously, an improper application by a city, which resulted in the arrest of Witnesses and failure to enforce the ordinance against other groups, such as the Adventists, would raise entirely distinct issues.
In the opinion in Jones v. Opelika, 316 U. S. 584, on the former hearing, attention was called to the differentiation between these cases of taxation and those of forbidden censorship, prohibition or discrimination. There is no occasion to repeat what has been written so recently as to the constitutional right to tax the money-raising activities of religious or didactic groups. There are, however, other reasons, not fully developed in that opinion, that add to our conviction that the Constitution does not prohibit these general occupational taxes.
from state deprivation. Gitlow v. New York, 268 U. S. 652, 268 U. S. 666; Near v. Minnesota, 283 U. S. 697, 283 U. S. 707; Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 310 U. S. 303. Since the publications teach a religion which conforms to our standards of legality, it is urged that these ordinances prohibit the free exercise of religion and abridge the freedom of speech and of the press.
It was one of twelve proposed on September 25, 1789, to the States by the First Congress after the adoption of the Constitution. Ten were ratified. They were intended to be, and have become, our Bill of Rights. By their terms, our people have a guarantee that, so long as law as we know it shall prevail, they shall live protected from the tyranny of the despot or the mob. None of the provisions of our Constitution is more venerated by the people or respected by legislatures and the courts than those which proclaim for our country the freedom of religion and expression. While the interpreters of the Constitution find the purpose was to allow the widest practical scope for the exercise of religion and the dissemination of information, no jurist has ever conceived that the prohibition of interference is absolute. [Footnote 2/2] Is subjection to nondiscriminatory, nonexcessive taxation in the distribution of religious literature a prohibition of the exercise of religion or an abridgment of the freedom of the press?
"The committee who framed this report proceeded on the principle that these rights belonged to the people; they conceived them to be inherent, and all that they meant to provide against was their being infringed by the Government."
These taxes were obnoxious, but an examination of the sources of the suggestion is convincing that there is nothing to support it except the fact that the tax on newspapers was in existence in England, and was disliked. [Footnote 2/10] The simple answer is that, if there had been any purpose of Congress to prohibit any kind of taxes on the press, its knowledge of the abominated English taxes would have led it to ban them unequivocally.
"All men have a natural and indefeasible right to worship Almighty God according to the dictates of their own consciences; no man can of right be compelled to attend, erect or support any place of worship, or to maintain any ministry against his consent; no human authority can, in any case whatever, control or interfere with the rights of conscience, and no preference shall ever be given by law to any religious establishments or modes of worship."
Purdon's Penna.Stat., Const., Art. I, § 3.
Id. Art. I, § 4.
"The printing press shall be free to every person who may undertake to examine the proceedings of the Legislature or any branch of government, and no law shall ever be made to restrain the right thereof. The free communication of thoughts and opinions is one of the invaluable rights of man, and every citizen may freely speak, write and print on any subject, being responsible for the abuse of that liberty. . . ."
Id. Art. I, 7. It will be observed that there is no suggestion of freedom from taxation, and this statement is equally true of the other state constitutional provisions. It may be concluded that neither in the state or the federal constitutions was general taxation of church or press interdicted.
"It is not intended by anything we have said to suggest that the owners of newspapers are immune from any of the ordinary forms of taxation for support of the government. But this is not an ordinary form of tax, but one single in kind, with a long history of hostile misuse against the freedom of the press."
Id. 297 U. S. 250.
the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees against state restrictions on speech and church.
But whether we give content to the literal words of the First Amendment or to principles of the liberty of the press and the church, we conclude that cities or states may levy reasonable, nondiscriminatory taxes on such activities as occurred in these cases. Whatever exemptions exist from taxation arise from the prevailing law of the various states. The constitutions of Alabama and Pennsylvania, with substantial similarity to the exemption provisions of other constitutions, forbid the taxation of lots and buildings used exclusively for religious worship. Alabama (1901), § 91; Pennsylvania (1874), Art. IX, § 1. These are the only exemptions of the press or church from taxation. We find nothing more applicable to our problem in the other constitutions. Surely this unanimity of specific state action on exemptions of religious bodies from taxes would not have occurred throughout our history, if it had been conceived that the genius of our institutions, as expressed in the First Amendment, was incompatible with the taxation of church or press.
practice of book distribution is free from taxation because a state cannot prohibit the "free exercise thereof," and a newspaper is subject to the same tax even though the same Constitutional Amendment says the state cannot abridge the freedom of the press? It has never been thought before that freedom from taxation was a perquisite attaching to the privileges of the First Amendment. The National Government grants exemptions to ministers and churches because it wishes to do so, not because the Constitution compels. Internal Revenue Code, §§ 22(b)(6), 101(6), 812(d), 1004(a)(2)(B). Where camp meetings or revivals charge admissions, a federal tax would apply if Congress had not granted freedom from the exaction. Id., § 1701.
It is urged that such a tax as this may be used readily to restrict the dissemination of ideas. This must be conceded, but the possibility of misuse does not make a tax unconstitutional. No abuse is claimed here. The ordinances in some of these cases are the general occupation license type, covering many businesses. In the Jeannette prosecutions, the ordinance involved lays the usual tax on canvassing or soliciting sales of goods, wares and merchandise. It was passed in 1898. Every power of taxation or regulation is capable of abuse. Each one, to some extent, prohibits the free exercise of religion and abridges the freedom of the press, but that is hardly a reason for denying the power. If the tax is used oppressively, the law will protect the victims of such action.
of the arrests. They had been requested by the authorities to await the outcome of a test case before continuing their canvassing. The distributors of religious literature, possibly of all informatory publications, become today privileged to carry on their occupations without contributing their share to the support of the government which provides the opportunity for the exercise of their liberties.
"spread their interpretations of the Bible and their religious beliefs largely through the hand distribution of literature by full or part-time workers."
"The hand distribution of religious tracts is an age-old form of missionary evangelism -- as old as the history of printing presses."
"It is more than preaching; it is more than distribution of religious literature. It is a combination of both. Its purpose is as evangelical as the revival meeting. This form of religious activity occupies the same high estate under the First Amendment as do worship in the churches and preaching from the pulpits."
"Those who can tax the exercise of this religious practice can make its exercise so costly as to deprive it of the resources necessary for its maintenance."
"The judgment in Jones v. Opelika has this day been vacated. Freed from that controlling precedent, we can restore to their high constitutional position the liberties of itinerant evangelists who disseminate their religious beliefs and the tenets of their faith through distribution of literature."
selling religious books is an age-old practice, or that it is evangelism in the sense that the distributors hope the readers will be spiritually benefited. That does not carry us to the conviction, however, that, when distribution of religious books is made at a price, the itinerant colporteur is performing a religious rite, is worshipping his Creator in his way. Many sects practice healing the sick as an evidence of their religious faith, or maintain orphanages or homes for the aged or teach the young. These are, of course, in a sense, religious practices, but hardly such examples of religious rites as are encompassed by the prohibition against the free exercise of religion.
"the message of said gospel in printed form, such as the Bible, books, booklets and magazines, and thus afford the people the opportunity of learning of God's gracious provision for them."
On the back of the card appears: "You may contribute twenty-five cents to the Lord's work and receive a copy of this beautiful book." The sale of these religious books has, we think, relation to their religious exercises, similar to the "information march," said by the Witnesses to be one of their "ways of worship," and by this Court to be subject to regulation by license in Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U. S. 569, 312 U. S. 572, 312 U. S. 573, 312 U. S. 576.
the decision of this Court, between the forbidden burden of a state tax for the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce and a state tax on the privilege of engaging in the distribution of religious literature is wholly irrelevant. A state tax on the privilege of engaging in interstate commerce is held invalid because the regulation of commerce between the states has been delegated to the Federal Government. This grant includes the necessary means to carry the grant into effect, and forbids state burdens without Congressional consent. [Footnote 2/16] It is not the power to tax interstate commerce which is interdicted, but the exercise of that power by an unauthorized sovereign, the individual state. Although the fostering of commerce was one of the chief purposes for organizing the present Government, that commerce may be burdened with a tax by the United States. Internal Revenue Code, § 3469. Commerce must pay its way. It is not exempt from any type of taxation if imposed by an authorized authority. The Court now holds that the First Amendment wholly exempts the church and press from a privilege tax, presumably by the national, as well as the state, government.
The limitations of the Constitution are not maxims of social wisdom, but definite controls on the legislative process. We are dealing with power, not its abuse. This late withdrawal of the power of taxation over the distribution activities of those covered by the First Amendment fixes what seems to us an unfortunate principle of tax exemption, capable of indefinite extension. We had thought that such an exemption required a clear and certain grant. This we do not find in the language of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. We are therefore of the opinion the judgments below should be affirmed.
MR. JUSTICE ROBERTS, MR. JUSTICE FRANKFURTER, and MR. JUSTICE JACKSON join in this dissent. MR. JUSTICE JACKSON has stated additional reasons for dissent in his concurrence in Douglas v. Jeannette, post, p. 319 U. S. 166.
"It is a distortion of the facts of record to describe their activities as the occupation of selling books and pamphlets. And the Pennsylvania court did not rest the judgments of conviction on that basis, though it did find that petitioners 'sold' the literature."
"two books entitled 'Salvation' and 'Creation,' respectively, and certain leaflets or pamphlets, all published by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Brooklyn, N.Y., for which the society fixed twenty-five cents each as the price for the books and five cents each as the price of the leaflets. Defendants paid twenty cents each for the books, unless they devoted their whole time to the work, in which case they paid five cents each for the books they sold at twenty-five cents. Some of the witnesses spoke of 'contributions,' but the evidence justified a finding that they sold the books and pamphlets."
"The constitutional right of freedom of worship does not guarantee anybody the right to sell anything from house to house or in buildings, belonging to, or in the occupancy of, other persons."
". . . we do not accede to his contention on the oral argument that the federal decisions relied upon by him go so far as to rule that the constitutional guaranty of a free press forbids dealers in books and printed matter being subjected to our State mercantile license tax or the federal income tax as to such sales, along with dealers in other merchandise."
Pittsburgh v. Ruffner, 134 Pa.Super.Ct.192, 199, 202, 4 A.2d 224. And after further discussion of selling, the conviction of the Witnesses was affirmed. It can hardly be said, we think, that the state court did not treat the Jeannette canvassers as engaged in a commercial activity or occupation at the time of their arrests.
Whitney v. California, 274 U. S. 357, 274 U. S. 371, and the concurring opinion, 274 U. S. 373; Reynolds v. United States, 98 U. S. 145, 98 U. S. 166; Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 310 U. S. 303; Cox v. New Hampshire, 312 U. S. 569, 312 U. S. 574, 312 U. S. 576.
Journal of the Convention, 369; II Farrand, The Records of the Federal Convention, 611, 616-8, 620. Cf. McMaster & Stone, Pennsylvania and the Federal Constitution, 251-253.
"IV. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, and not by force and violence, and therefore all men have a natural, equal, and unalienable right to the exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that no particular religious sect or society ought to be favored or established, by law, in preference to others. . . . XVI. That the people have a right to freedom of speech, and of writing and publishing their sentiments. That freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwark of liberty, and ought not to be violated."
"Article III. The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other, against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever."
"Article V. . . . Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any court, or place out of Congress, and the members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonments, during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace."
"Be it enacted by the General Assembly, That no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities."
12 Hening Statutes of Va. 86.
Georgia, Constitution of 1777, Art. LXI. "Freedom of the press and trial by jury to remain inviolate forever." I Poore, Federal and State Constitutions 383.
Maryland, Constitution of 1776, Declaration of Rights, Art. XXXVIII. "That the liberty of the press ought to be inviolably preserved." Id. 820.
Massachusetts, Constitution of 1780, Part First, Art. XVI. "The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a State; it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this commonwealth." Id., 959.
New Hampshire, Constitution of 1784, Part 1, Art. XXII. "The Liberty of the Press is essential to the security of freedom in a state; it ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved." II Poore, id., 1282.
North Carolina, Constitution of 1776, Declaration of Rights, Art. XV. "That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and therefore ought never to be restrained." Id., 1410.
Pennsylvania, Constitution of 1776, Declaration of Rights, Art. XII. "That the people have a right to freedom of speech, and of writing, and publishing their sentiments; therefore the freedom of the press ought not to be restrained." Id., 1542.
Virginia, Bill of Rights, 1776, § 12. "That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments." Id., 1909.
"Congress shall make no law establishing religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, nor shall the rights of Conscience be infringed."
"The Freedom of Speech, and of the Press, and the right of the People peaceably to assemble, and consult for their common good, and to apply to the Government for a redress of grievances, shall not be infringed."
Records of the United States Senate, 1A-C2 (U.S. Nat. Archives).
"Congress shall make no law establishing articles of faith, or a mode of worship, or prohibiting the free exercise of religion, or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition to the government for a redress of grievances."
"And be it enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That there shall be raised, levied, collected and paid, to and for the Use of her Majesty, her Heirs and Successors, for and upon all Books and Papers commonly called Pamphlets, and for and upon all News Papers, or Papers containing publick News, Intelligence or Occurrences, which shall, at any Time or Times within or during the Term last mentioned, be printed in Great Britain, to be dispersed and made publick, and for and upon such Advertisements as are herein after mentioned, the respective Duties following; that is to say,"
"For every such Pamphlet or Paper contained in Half a Sheet, or any lesser Piece of Paper, so printed, the Sum of one half-penny Sterling."
"For every such Pamphlet or Paper (being larger than Half a Sheet, and not exceeding one whole Sheet) so printed, a Duty after the Rate of one Penny Sterling for every printed Copy thereof."
"And for every such Pamphlet or Paper, being larger than one whole Sheet, and not exceeding six Sheets in Octavo, or in a lesser Page, or not exceeding twelve Sheets in Quarto, or twenty Sheets in Folio, so printed, a Duty after the Rate of two Shillings Sterling for every Sheet of any kind of Paper which shall be contained in one printed Copy thereof."
"And for every Advertisement to be contained in the London Gazette, or any other printed Paper, such Paper being dispersed or made publick weekly, or oftner, the Sum of twelve Pence Sterling."
Stevens, Sources of the Constitution, 221, note 2; Stewart, Lennox and the Taxes on Knowledge, 15 Scottish Hist,Rev. 322, 326; McMaster & Stone, Pennsylvania and the Federal Constitution, 181; Grosjean v. American Press Co., 297 U. S. 233, 297 U. S. 248.
Gitlow v. New York (1925), 268 U. S. 652, 268 U. S. 666; Near v. Minnesota, 283 U. S. 697, 283 U. S. 707; Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U. S. 296, 310 U. S. 307.
Permoli v. First Municipality, 3 How. 589, 44 U. S. 609; Barron v. Baltimore, 7 Pet. 243, 32 U. S. 247.
For the state provisions on expression and religion, see 2 Cooley, Constitutional Limitations (8th Ed.) 876, 965; III Constitutions of the States, New York State Const. Conv. Committee 1938.
To this, Professor Chafee adds the right to criticize the Government. Free Speech in the United States (1941) 18 et seq. Cf. 2 Cooley's Constitutional Limitations (8th Ed.) 886.
Giragi v. Moore, 301 U.S. 670; 48 Ariz. 33; 49 Ariz. 74.
Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419, 25 U. S. 448; Kentucky Whip & Collar Co. v. Illinois Central R. Co., 299 U. S. 334, 299 U. S. 350; Gwin, White & Prince, Inc. v. Henneford, 305 U. S. 434, 305 U. S. 438; Puget Sound Co. v. Tax Commission, 302 U. S. 90.
activities, had been made, the issues here would be very different. No such claim has been made, and it would be gratuitous to consider its merits.
Nor have we occasion to consider whether these measures are invalid on the ground that they unjustly or unreasonably discriminate against the petitioners. Counsel do not claim, as indeed they could not, that these ordinances were intended to, or have been applied to, discriminate against religious groups generally or Jehovah's Witnesses particularly. No claim is made that the effect of the taxes is to hinder or restrict the activities of Jehovah's Witnesses while other religious groups, perhaps older or more prosperous, can carry on theirs. This question, too, is not before us.
Nor can a tax be invalidated merely because it falls upon activities which constitute an exercise of a constitutional right. The First Amendment, of course, protects the right to publish a newspaper or a magazine or a book. But the crucial question is -- how much protection does the Amendment give, and against what is the right protected? It is certainly true that the protection afforded the freedom of the press by the First Amendment does not include exemption from all taxation. A tax upon newspaper publishing is not invalid simply because it falls upon the exercise of a constitutional right. Such a tax might be invalid if it invidiously singled out newspaper publishing for bearing the burdens of taxation or imposed upon them in such ways as to encroach on the essential scope of a free press. If the Court could justifiably hold that the tax measures in these cases were vulnerable on that ground, I would unreservedly agree. But the Court has not done so, and indeed could not.
is imposed, its justification, and the extent to which it hinders or restricts the exercise of the privilege.
As I read the Court's opinion, it does not hold that the taxes in the cases before us, in fact, do hinder or restrict the petitioners in exercising their constitutional rights. It holds that "The power to tax the exercise of a privilege is the power to control or suppress its enjoyment." This assumes that, because the taxing power exerted in Magnano Co. v. Hamilton, 292 U. S. 40, the well known oleomargarine tax case, may have had the effect of "controlling" or "suppressing" the enjoyment of a privilege, and still was sustained by this Court, and because all exertions of the taxing power may have that effect, if perchance a particular exercise of the taxing power does have that effect, it would have to be sustained under our ruling in the Magnano case.
"[t]hose who do tax the exercise of this religious practice have made its exercise so costly as to deprive it of the resources necessary for its maintenance. "
"Those who can tax the privilege of engaging in this form of missionary evangelism can close its doors to all those who do not have a full purse."
I quite agree with this statement as an abstract proposition. Those who possess the power to tax might wield it in tyrannical fashion. It does not follow, however, that every exercise of the power is an act of tyranny, or that government should be impotent because it might become tyrannical. The question before us now is whether these ordinances have deprived the petitioners of their constitutional rights, not whether some other ordinances not now before us might be enacted which might deprive them of such rights. To deny constitutional power to secular authority merely because of the possibility of its abuse is as valid as to deny the basis of spiritual authority because those in whom it is temporarily vested may misuse it.
common fund out of which the costs of government are paid. As a matter of public finance, it is often impossible to determine with nicety the governmental expenditures attributable to particular activities. But, in any event, whether government collects revenue for the costs of its services through an earmarked fund, or whether an approximation of the cost of regulation goes into the general revenues of government out of which all expenses are borne, is a matter of legislative discretion, and not of constitutional distinction. Just so long as an occupation tax is not used as a cover for discrimination against a constitutionally protected right or as an unjustifiable burden upon it, from the point of view of the Constitution of the United States it can make no difference whether such a money exaction for governmental benefits is labeled a regulatory fee or a revenue measure.
and facilities when, in fact, no discrimination is suggested as between purveyors of printed matter and purveyor of other things, and the exaction is not claimed to be actually burdensome, is to say that the Constitution requires not that the dissemination of ideas in the interest of religion shall be free, but that it shall be subsidized by the state. Such a claim offends the most important of all aspects of religious freedom in this country, namely, that of the separation of church and state.
The ultimate question in determining the constitutionality of a tax measure is -- has the state given something for which it can ask a return? There can be no doubt that these petitioners, like all who use the streets, have received the benefits of government. Peace is maintained, traffic is regulated, health is safeguarded -- these are only some of the many incidents of municipal administration. To secure them costs money, and a state's source of money is its taxing power. There is nothing in the Constitution which exempts persons engaged in religious activities from sharing equally in the costs of benefits to all, including themselves, provided by government.
I cannot say, therefore, that, in these cases, the community has demanded a return for that which it did not give. Nor am I called upon to say that the state has demanded unjustifiably more than the value of what it gave, nor that its demand, in fact, cramps activities pursued to promote religious beliefs. No such claim was made at the bar, and there is no evidence in the records to substantiate any such claim if it had been made. Under these circumstances, therefore, I am of opinion that the ordinances in these cases must stand.

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