Jewish Congress to Seek Federal Court Decision on N.j. Sunday Law

A Jewish-sponsored effort to obtain a federal court ruling on the constitutionality of New Jersey’s hotly disputed Sunday closing law, which had been suspended to allow a state court ruling, will now be resumed, it was indicated today.

In a split four-to-two decision, the New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday upheld the constitutionality of the 1959 law and simultaneously declared null and void the state’s all inclusive Sunday law of 1951.

The 1959 law bans the sale of clothing, home and office furnishings, appliances and building materials on Sunday but it does so only in 12 of the state’s 21 counties. Those 12, in which the majority of the state’s Jews live, approved the law in a public referendum last November 3.

The New Jersey region of the American Jewish Congress, which had sought a federal test on behalf of three Orthodox Jews, said today that the state ruling had no bearing on the religious issue and that a date would be sought for a federal court test on that issue. The Jewish plaintiffs contend that the closing law discriminates against them because their religion bans them from doing business on Saturday and they cannot substitute Sunday.

Adrian M. Unger, state president of the American Jewish Congress, said the test for the Orthodox Jews would be based on the principles upheld last year by a special Federal Court in the Lord’s Day law in Massachusetts. That court ruled the law unconstitutional because it favored one religion over another and because the law’s exemptions denied the plaintiffs equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Massachusetts case is now before the United States Supreme Court.