Sherbert v. Verner - Dissenting Opinion

Refusing to join in this "amen chorus" were Justices Harlan and White, who issued a dissent. They decried the precedent set by the Court in carving out a special religious exemption from the normal rules of state benefit eligibility. Writing for himself and White, Harlan opined: "To require South Carolina to so administer its laws as to pay public money to the appellant under the circumstances of this case is thus clearly to require the State to violate the Establishment Clause as construed by this Court." The majority's ruling would, in Harlan's opinion, force states to "single out for financial assistance those whose behavior is religiously motivated, even though it denies such assistance to others whose identical behavior (in this case, inability to work on Saturdays) is not religiously motivated."