Home More advice Politics & Law
I need to know the Supreme Court case name that declared that it's illegal for school's to forces and punish their students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. I'll continue looking myself but if someone wants to help or just knows, I'd appreciate anything. Thanks :)
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of many legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, instance court, judgment court, apex court, and highest court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of a supreme court are not subject to further review by any other court. In a few places, the court named the "Supreme Court" is not in fact the highest court; examples include the Supreme Court of the State of New York and the former Supreme Court of Judicature of England and Wales. The highest court in some jurisdictions is not named the "Supreme Court", for example, the High Court of Australia; this is because decisions by the High Court could be appealed to the Privy Council. Supreme courts typically function primarily as appellate courts, hearing appeals from decisions of lower trial courts, or from intermediate-level appellate courts. Some countries have multiple "supreme courts" whose respective jurisdictions have different geographical extents, or which are restricted to particular areas of law. In particular, countries with a federal system of government typically[citation needed] have both a federal supreme court (such as the Supreme Court of the United States), and supreme courts for each member state (such as the Supreme Court of Nevada), with the former having jurisdiction over the latter only to the extent that the federal constitution extends federal law over state law. Jurisdictions with a civil law system often have a hierarchy of administrative courts separate from the ordinary courts, headed by a supreme administrative court as it the case in the Netherlands. A number of jurisdictions also follow the "Austrian" model of a separate constitutional court (first developed in the Czechoslovak Constitution of 1920).
Note that the ban against the required school recitation of the 'Pledge of Allegiance' was at the request of a religious group - Jehovah's Witnesses. In a related subject, Engel v. Vitale (1962) declared that it was unconstitutional to have an official state-school prayer; and Abington School District v. Schempp (1963) stated bible readings and other (state) school-sponsored religious activities were prohibited. Note that both referred ONLY to public schools, not private schools in accordance with the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution (which provides the foundation for the separation of church and state). Also note that the prohibitions are directed at the school and NOT the students. If a student wants to pray during school or give grace at a meal, that is perfectly fine as long as no teachers nor administrators are involved or directing.
I think you may be looking for:
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, (1943)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WestVirginiaStateBoardofEducationv._Barnette
You may also find it helpful to read the Wikipedia "Pledge of Allegiance" article, especially Section 4 therein, entitled "Controversy" at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PledgeofAllegiance#Controversy
and sub-section 4.1 dealing with "Legal Challenges" at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PledgeofAllegiance#Legal_challenges
I personally say a revised version of the pledge that sometimes ticks the teachers off. I personally say... I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all someday.
That being said it doesn't mean that kids have to say it. You can lip sync or say a different version.
Clickable link to West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, (1943) article:
Clickable link to "Pledge of Allegiance" article, Section 4 entitled "Controversy":
