Implications of the U.S. First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses for Proposed Sunday Rest Law in Project 2025

This study examines the constitutional implications of a proposed federal Sunday rest law as outlined in Project 2025, the influential policy blueprint published by the Heritage Foundation. Taking into account relevant historical and judicial developments including the political mobilization of the American Christian Right and recent doctrinal shifts in the U.S. Supreme Court, the paper analyzes whether such proposed legislation aligns with the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses, as elaborated through U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence. The paper begins by surveying key judicial precedents, including foundational rulings from the Warren and Burger Courts that articulated a strictly separationist interpretation of church and state. The analysis then turns to recent developments under a conservative-majority Court, including its move away from the Lemon Test toward a “history and tradition” framework for Establishment Clause jurisprudence. This shift raises the possibility of privileging dominant Christian norms in ways that were previously constrained by stricter Establishment Clause scrutiny. Next, the paper examines historical developments relating to the “Sunday Blue Laws” that outlawed commercial and other secular activities on Sunday, paying special attention to the 1961 Supreme Court decisions —McGowan, Braunfeld and McGinley—which upheld state-level Sunday rest laws. Although these laws were rooted in religious tradition, the Court deemed them constitutionally permissible based on the states’ articulation of secular, public welfare objectives. Project 2025 proposes a legislative amendment to the Fair Labor Standards Act, incentivizing Sunday rest through overtime pay and explicitly framing Sunday as the “Sabbath”—a significant departure from earlier secular justifications. While the proposal nominally allows for religious exemptions, it nevertheless risks imposing structural disadvantages on minority faith communities, such as Seventh-day Adventists. These include economic hardship, social marginalization, and burdens in proving religious sincerity. Ultimately, the study argues that the Project 2025 proposal signals a potential reorientation of American constitutionalism—from a pluralist republicanism grounded in religious neutrality toward a more explicitly Christian state. Such a transition would pose serious challenges to religious liberty, particularly for those outside the religious majority, and demands enhanced legal and civic vigilance.