Thursday, June 19, 2014

Court Upholds Pennsylvania's Sunday Hunting Ban

In Hunters United For Sunday Hunting v. Pennsylvania Game Commission, (MD PA, June 18, 2014), a Pennsylvania federal district court rejected constitutional challenges by a hunters' group to Pennsylvania's ban on Sunday hunting for fur bearing animals or game.  Plaintiffs had asserted that the ban violates the 2nd Amendment, the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause, and the First Amendment's religion clauses. Rejecting plaintiff's establishment clause claim, the court said in part:
The Court cannot divine Plaintiffs’ injury-in-fact from their allegation that “Defendants [sic] enforcement and prohibition on Sunday hunting no longer has a secular basis but instead a religious basis.”
The court also pointed to Supreme Court precedent upholding Sunday closing laws.  AP reports on the decision. (See prior related posting.)