West+Virginia+State+Board+of+Ed.+v.+Barnette


 * We****st V****irginia State Board of Education vs. Barnette**

**Date of hearing:** **Argued:**Thursday, March 11, 1943
 * Decided: ** June 14, 1943

** Chief Justice: **
The Chief Justice during this case was Harlan F. Stone. Before becoming the Chief Justice, Stone was an American lawyer and jurist. He attended Columbia Law School, and later became the dean there. Stone was a republican, and he was selected to be the 52nd Attorney General of the U.S. He then became an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1925. Stone served a very short term as the 12th Chief Justice, starting in 1941 and going all the way until his death in 1946. This case challenged the __law state?__ in the First Amendment. The First Amendment __sates__ that the government officials were not allowed to force individuals to speak or adopt orthodox beliefs that are at odds with their conscience and values. This amendment was created to give the people some freedom of belief and thought without the input of the government. The Jehovah's Witnesses believed that the forcing of students to salute the flag went against their religion and beliefs, and __there for__ was violating the First Amendment by not respecting their freedom of speech and religion. **Summary of the Case** After the //Minserville School District v. Gobitis//, **(what is this decision?)** the West Virginia Lesgislature required all schools to say the pledge of alliagence. If someone in the district refused to do it, it would be an act of insobordanaiton and delt with as such. After some objections about it being too much like Hitler's salute, some changes were made, but none to accomodate the Jehovah's Witness. If a child didn't salute the flag, they would be expelled, their parents charged with criminal charges and the child would be declared a deliquent because of "unlawful" absences. Since Jevovah's Witenss believe 'Thou shalt not make unto thee any [|graven image], or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.'(Exodus ch.20 versues 4 and 5) It states that they cannot salute other images and have them represent something else. Since Jevoah's Witness students refused to do this, they were expelled from schools. One such case, the Barnettes, included their daughters whom they sent to school every day though they were expelled. Eventually, they brought the case to the United States Distrcict court for their daughters and others like them, and it was eventually sent to the Supreme Court. **Main Issue** Thou shalt not make unto thee any [|graven image], or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; thou shalt not bow down thyself to them nor serve them.'(Exodus ch.20 versues 4 and 5) It states that they cannot salute other images and have them represent something else. Since Jevoah's Witness students refused to do this, they were expelled from schools. One such case, the Barnettes, included their daughters whom they sent to school every day though they were expelled. Eventually, they bought the case to the United States Distrcict court for their daughters and others like them, and it was eventually sent to the Supreme Court. **Main Issue** Did the compulsory flag-salute for public schoolchildren violate the First Amendment? **Decision rendered by the court plus vote** In a 6-to-3 vote, the court ruled in favor of Barnette and said that compelling school students to salute the flag was unconstituional. **Who voted what and why**
 * Documents/Amendments [[image:grovesapush/watchtower3.jpg width="165" height="147" align="right" caption="The Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower Symbol"]] **
 * Majority **
 * Hugo Lafayette Black
 * William O. Douglas
 * Robert H. Jackson
 * Frank Murphy
 * Wiley Blount Rutledge
 * Harlan Fiske Stone

WHY: Justice Robert Jackson wrote their decision, in which the four points made in Minserville School District v. Gobitis three years earlier by Justice Felix Frankfurter were bought back and examined in the context of this case. **Point 1: The designaiton of the flag as a national symbol** Jackson did not question Frankfurter's designation of the flag as a national symbol, but he believed that a symbol is what a man makes of it, and if they saw it as against their beliefs it should not be forced upon them to use it. **Point 2:Flag-saluting ceremonies were an appropriate way to build the “cohesive sentiment” that Frankfurter believed national unity depended on** Jackson bought in how the Romans tried to destroy Christians and the Spanish Inqusition tried to get rid of Jews were similar to this situation because the government was trying to have all people be one thing, which Jackson said in this situation, to salute the flag every day. **Point 3:Forcing students to salute the flag, and threatening them with expulsion if they chose not to, was a permissible way to foster national unity. Frankfurter also said if people had a problem, they should bring it to the ballots for a vote** Jackson said that people had rights stated in the Bill of Rights which said that some of the issues in America were given to courts like this so the people wouldn't have to deal with every single wrong thing that happened, so it was their job to come up with the solution based on America's laws. Jackson beleived that since the flag was America's, it should be decided on by the __Constituion__, therefore defined by the rights in the constituion, it shouldn't be forced to salute the flag.
 * Point 4:Matters like saluting the flag were issues of “school discipline” that are better left to local officials rather than federal judges **
 * Dissenting **


 * Felix Frankfurter
 * Stanley Forman Reed
 * Owen Josephus Roberts

WHY: Judge Frankfurter argued that the law wasn't discrimitory towards one religion or people and made everyone do it. He also said it was a law and religious groups shouldn't be allowed to pick and choose the laws they thought were appropriate- he said they were all Americans and should be subjected to the same laws. He said religion freedom gave them freedom from being discriminated against and allowed to practice their religion, not that they could turn down a law when they did not like it.


 * **Justices for the Majority:** || ** Time Served on Court: ** ||
 * Hugo Lafayette Black || 1937-1971 (34 years) ||
 * William O. Douglas || 1939-1975 (36 years) ||
 * Robert H. Jackson (Writing for the Court) || 1941-1954 (13 years) ||
 * Frank Murphy || 1940-1949 (9 years) ||
 * Wiley Blount Rutledge || 1943-1949 (6 years) ||
 * Harlan Fiske Stone || 1925-1946 (21 years) ||


 * **Justices Dissenting:** || ** Time Served on Court: ** ||
 * Felix Frankfurter || 1939-1962 (23 years) ||
 * Stanley Forman Reed || 1938-1957 (19 years) ||
 * Owen Josephus Roberts || 1930-1945 (15 years) ||



**Do you agree?** We agree with the decision of the Supreme Court. Our group, similar to the Jehovah's Witnesses, don't believe that students should be forced to salute the American flag and say the Pledge of Allegiance at school. This is because they view the flag salute as an act of worship, and they cannot give what they view as worship to anyone or anything except their God, Jehovah. Although we do not think that saluting the flag or saying the Pledge of Allegiance is an act of worship, we don’t think these acts are an important part of school. It is ridiculous that if a child didn’t salute the flag in school, they would be expelled and their parents would be criminally charged and threatened with prosecutions for causing delinquency. Schools are supposed to teach students to accept and tolerate differences, whether it is in religion, race, appearance, etc. Also, the First Amendment of our Constitution is freedom of religion and the Fourteenth Amendment gua rantees religious civil rights.

**What if the case had gone the other way?** If the case had gone the other way, and made it mandatory to salute the American flag and Pledge of Allegiance at School, the Supreme Court would have violated the U.S. Constitution. The Court would have been in direct violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments, which secure free exercise of religion, freedom of speech, and guarantee religious civil rights. The Court would have also set a bad example; suppressing basic civil rights is okay under certain circumstances. "Mandatory patriotism", or showing pride/devotion in one's country, is not part of the Constitution. Life in the 1940's was obviosuly different than it is today, but that is because of people like Marie and Gathie Barnette, who stood up for their civil rights. "West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web 09 Feb. 2012. [].
 * Bibliography **

"Refugee Children Saluting the American Flag. New York, December 1943 Photo at AllPosters.com." //AllPosters.com - The World's Largest Poster and Print Store!// web. 09 Feb. 2012. [].

"Supreme Court Cases Involving Jehovah's Witnesses by Country." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. Web. 12 Feb. 2012. [].

"Court Decisions - West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette." //Agnosticism / Atheism - Skepticism & Atheism for Atheists & Agnostics//. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. []. "Permit Applicant's Bill of Rights." //Air Resources Board - Homepage//. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. [].

"West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943)." //PROS AND CONS OF CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES//. © ProCon.org. Web. 9 Feb. 2012. [].

"West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. 07 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. [].

"Harlan F. Stone." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. 08 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. [].

"First Amendment Schools: The Five Freedoms - Court Case." //First Amendment Schools: Resources for Students, Teachers, Administrators and the Community//. 14 Feb. 2012. Web. 14 Feb. 2012. [].

**6/7 Biblio - alphabetize** **27/28 Content - great job breaking down the decision and explaining it.** **4.5/5 Organization -- watch spelling mistakes**

**37.5/40 Total**