Maryland's Constitution required officeholders to declare their belief in God. Roy Torcaso, an atheist appointed as a notary public, refused to take the oath and was denied the commission. Justice Black's unanimous opinion held the requirement unconstitutional under the First and Fourteenth Amendments: government may not aid religions based on belief in God against religions founded on different beliefs, and it certainly may not impose religious tests for public office — a principle already textually written into Article VI's Religious Test Clause for federal offices. Torcaso confirmed that the Article VI ban and the First Amendment together bar religious tests at every level of American government.