West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette
From Conservapedia
In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943), the Supreme Court revisited the topic of compulsory flag-salute in schools having ruled in favor of the practice in 1940's Minersville School District v. Gobitis.
Following the decision in the Minersville School District decision, the West Virginia legislature amended its statutes to require schools to conduct courses of instruction in history, civics, and in the Constitutions of the United States and of the State 'for the purpose of teaching, fostering and perpetuating the ideals, principles and spirit of Americanism, and increasing the knowledge of the organization and machinery of the government.'
On January 9, 1942 the Board of Education adopted a resolution ordering that the salute to the flag become 'a regular part of the program of activities in the public schools,' and that all teachers and pupils 'shall be required to participate in the salute honoring the Nation represented by the Flag; provided, however, that refusal to salute the Flag be regarded as an Act of insubordination, and shall be dealt with accordingly.' Children held to be insubordinate were expelled until they complied, considered to be unlawfully absent and a deliquent. The parents or guardians of insubordinate would be liable to prosecution, subject to a $50 fine and up to 30 days in jail.
Justice Jackson wrote the majority opinion, that the school board did not have the right to expel the children of Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to salute the flag. The opinion stated that "if there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein."
The opinion concluded, "The decision of this Court in Minersville School District v. Gobitis and the holdings of those few per curiam decisions which preceded and foreshadowed it are overruled, and the judgment enjoining enforcement of the West Virginia Regulation is affirmed."
Justice Frankfurter, having written the majority opinion in the Minersville School District, wrote a dissenting opinion stating, "As has been true in the past, the Court will from time to time reverse its position. But I believe that never before these Jehovah's Witnesses cases (except for minor deviations subsequently retraced) has this Court overruled decisions so as to restrict the powers of democratic government."
The case was argued on March 11, 1943. The decision was released on Flag Day, June 14, 1943.
