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Violation Of The First Amendment In Schools Essay

472 Words2 Pages

In January 1942, the West Virginia Board of Education adopted a resolution to enforce every student and teacher to a pledge of allegiances of the nation’s flag. If anyone refused to honor the flag he or she would be found “insubordinate” and expelled from school. The Barnett sisters were Jehovah’s Witnesses who refused to pledge of allegiances while in public school. Their father would not allow them to salute the flag. Because it violated their religious of the garden image that the only thing to be worshiped was God. Barnette brought suit in the Supreme Court. In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court overruled its decision Minersville School District vs Gobitis and held that it is unconstitutional. Denial of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth …show more content…

Jackson wrote the majority opinion, the Supreme Court held that unconstitutional and a violation of the First Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment. Under the First Amendment, the government cannot enforce laws on an individual’s will regarding of religious liberty. As long as the actions do not present a clear and present danger. The school district had clearly violated the student rights by forcing the student to salute the flag and pledge of allegiances. Jackson reasoned that by forcing the student to salute the flag it was a sign of communicated an expression of set idea. Whereby, making the resolutions as a requirement the states had violated the constitution.
For years, the Witnesses did not seek in an equal religious liberty. The Witnesses believed in the law of God and they only worshiped God. Not man’s law nor the resolution. They consider the flag is an image and it violated their belief of graven image. For this reason, they refuse to salute the flag.
This court case has a dramatic impact on the Jehovah’s Witnesses regarding religious liberty under the First and Fourteenth Amendment. In a 6-3 decision, the court overruled its decision Minersville School District vs Gobitis (8-1). These two court cases are very similar but the outcomes of the case were opposite. This case changes the restraints enforcement against Jehovah’s Witnesses and declared the statement that it is constitutional to not salute the flag under state

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