8. Many blue laws presented a degree of secular practicality
The Maryland law which restricted sales of merchandise on Sunday and was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1961 banned many if not most products. In this case, employees of a department store were arrested and subsequently fined for selling products which were banned from Sunday sale. The products included a stapler and floor wax, among other seemingly harmless household items. The sale was a violation of Maryland law, and as mentioned, subsequently the law was upheld by the Supreme Court. Not discussed in the case were the items which were allowed to be sold in Maryland on Sunday.
Essentially, the state law allowed the sale only of items which could be required urgently, such as motor oil and other auto parts and supplies, the same for boats, food and some beverages, and so forth. The sales of tobacco were allowed in all its forms; cigars, cigarettes, chewing tobacco., pipe tobacco, snuff, and leaf. Maryland was at the time the law was enacted a major tobacco-growing state. A law restricting the selling and use of the products of one of the state’s leading industries was unthinkable for the legislature. Another major industry was tourism, and the same law which prohibited the sales of staplers on Sunday allowed the sales of souvenirs to residents and tourists alike.