A Pennsylvania ordinance that imposes a license tax on those selling religious merchandise violates the Free Exercise Clause. Decided May 3, 1943 (argued 1943). Opinion of the Court: William O. Douglas → go there Dissenting: Reed, Frankfurter. Applied: the First Amendment → go there Topic: Freedom of religion. Murdock v. Pennsylvania, 319 U.S. 105 (1943), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that an ordinance requiring door-to-door salespersons ("solicitors") to purchase a license was an unconstitutional tax on religious exercise. Wiki link