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- Freedom of Religion and the Establishment Clause
Minersville School District v. Gobitis 1940
Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
Pages | 108-111 |
Page 108
Petitioners: Minersville School District, et al.
Respondents: Walter Gobitis, et al.
Petitioners' Claim: That requiring school students to say the pledge of allegiance does not violate the First Amendment freedom of religion.
Chief Lawyer for Petitioners: Joseph W. Henderson
Chief Lawyers for Respondents: George K. Gardner and Joseph R. Rutherford
Justices for the Court: Hugo Lafayette Black, William O. Douglas, Felix Frankfurter (writing for the Court), Charles Evans Hughes, James Clark McReynolds, Frank Murphy, Stanley Forman Reed, Owen Josephus Roberts
Justices Dissenting: Harlan Fiske Stone
Date of Decision: June 3, 1940
Decision: The Court upheld the law requiring students to salute the flag.
Significance: In 1940, while America was being pulled into World War II, the Supreme Court made national loyalty more important than the freedom of religion. Three years later, however, the Court decided that forcing students to say the pledge of allegiance violates the First Amendment freedom of speech.
Page 109
Freedom of religion in America suffered a loss in Minersville School District v. Gobitis. The case began around 1940 in Minersville, Pennsylvania, where the school board required teachers and students to salute the American flag each day.
Lillian and William Gobitis were Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to salute the flag. Jehovah's Witnesses is a form of Christianity that makes obedience to the Bible more important than following the laws of government. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that saluting the American flag violates the Bible's command not to worship anyone or anything except God.
The Minersville school district expelled the Gobitis children from school for their refusal to salute the flag. Their parents enrolled them in private school, but it cost too much for the family to afford. The Gobitis family decided to send the children back to public school, and their father filed a lawsuit to prevent the Minersville school district from forcing the children to say the pledge of allegiance. Mr. Gobitis got the order he wanted from the trial court, so Minersville appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
In an 8–1 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed and ruled in favor of the school district. Writing for the Court, Justice Felix Frankfurter said the case was a battle between the...
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- Freedom of Religion and the Establishment Clause
- Freedom of Religion and the Establishment Clause
- Reynolds v. United States 1879
- Cantwell v. Connecticut 1940
- Minersville School District v. Gobitis 1940
- Everson v. Board of Education 1947
- Engel v. Vitale 1962
- Epperson v. Arkansas 1968
- Lemon v. Kurtzman 1971
- Wisconsin v. Yoder 1972
- County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union 1989
- Lee v. Weisman 1992
- Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah 1993
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