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Alcohol Restrictions Debate over the production, distribution, and use of alcohol in the United States has long had a moral component and easily fits what has been called morality poli- tics (Meier, 1994). Po­ liti ­ cal fights over the development of so-­ called blue laws (e.g., ordinances prohibiting the sale of alcohol on Sundays), society’s response to drunk driving, the disagreement regarding drinking while pregnant, and underage drink- ing have all sparked po­ liti ­ cal debates with a pronounced morality dimension. Even ­ today, many counties in the United States still ban the retail sales of alcohol and allow only “by the drink” sales in bars and taverns as a means to restrict access to “demon rum” and other alcoholic beverages. Access to bars and taverns is also sometimes restricted to so-­called members. However, ­these restrictions have as much to do with class, professional, ethnic, and racial segregation as they have to do with localized moral policing. EARLY BLUE LAWS AND PROHIBITION In early colonial times, the Puritans ­ were responsible for laws preventing ­ people from performing work on the Sabbath (Sunday) that would interfere with church attendance. Over time, ­these bans became known as blue laws, and many addi- tional religious communities, such as Evangelical Christians, overwhelmingly sup- ported them. Blue laws ­ were designed to prevent “immoral” activities on Sundays, and over time the definition of immoral expanded to include such activities as “travel, smoking, drinking, gaming or sporting, all manner of ­ labor, and . . . ​sleeping in church” (Hanson & Hanson, 2012). However, as new immigrants arrived in the United States, Catholics, Jews, and po­ liti ­ cal progressives or­ ga ­ nized in opposi- tion to blue laws, arguing ­ these laws joined church and state (NABCA, 2018). The constitutionality of blue laws was not challenged ­ until 1885 when the Supreme Court ruled that Sunday laws ­were good for the laborer, in Soon Hing v. Crowley. The highest court upheld blue laws as late as 1961, in McGowan v. Mary­land, based on nonreligious reasoning. Despite criticism that blue laws ­ violated the separation