LARKIN v. GRENDEL'S DEN, INC.

Legal Principle at Issue

Does a Massachusetts law granting schools and churches absolute power to veto liquor license applications for establishments within 500 feet of their property violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment or the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment?

Action

Affirmed (includes modified). Petitioning party did not receive a favorable disposition.

Facts/Syllabus

A Massachusetts statute vests in the governing bodies of schools and churches the power to prevent issuance of liquor licenses for premises within a 500-foot radius of the church or school by objecting to the license applications. 

The liquor license for the appellee restaurant, Grendel's Den, was denied when a church located 10 feet from the restaurant objected to the application. Appellee then sued the licensing authorities in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, claiming the statute on its face and as applied, violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The district court held the statute is facially unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed.