WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF ED. v. BARNETTE
Term:
- 1940-1949
Location:
West Virginia Board of Education
Facts of the Case
The West Virginia Board of Education required that the flag salute be part of the program of activities in all public schools. All teachers and pupils were required to honor the Flag; refusal to salute was treated as "insubordination" and was punishable by expulsion and charges of delinquency.
Question
Did the compulsory flag-salute for public schoolchildren violate the First Amendment?
Conclusion
Decision: 6 votes for Barnette, 3 vote(s) against
Legal provision: US Const. Amend 1; W. Va. Code § 1734
Legal provision: US Const. Amend 1; W. Va. Code § 1734
In a 6-to-3 decision, the Court overruled its decision in Minersville School District v. Gobitis and held that compelling public schoolchildren to salute the flag was unconstitutional. The Court found that such a salute was a form of utterance and was a means of communicating ideas. "Compulsory unification of opinion," the Court held, was doomed to failure and was antithetical to First Amendment values. Writing for the majority, Justice Jackson argued that "[i]f 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."
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WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF ED. v. BARNETTE. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 18 June 2013. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1949/1942/1942_591>.
WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF ED. v. BARNETTE, The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, http://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1949/1942/1942_591 (last visited June 18, 2013).
"WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF ED. v. BARNETTE," The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law, accessed June 18, 2013, http://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1949/1942/1942_591.