West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

Appellant

West Virginia State Board of Education

Appellee

Walter Barnette

Appellant's Claim

That a state law mandating a daily salute of the American flag by public school children does not violate the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom.

Chief Lawyer for Appellant

W. Holt Wooddell

Chief Lawyer for Appellee

Hayden C. Covington

Justices for the Court

Hugo Lafayette Black, William O. Douglas, Robert H. Jackson (writing for the Court), Frank Murphy, Stanley Forman Reed, Owen Josephus Roberts

Justices Dissenting

Felix Frankfurter, Wiley Blount Rutledge, Harlan Fiske Stone

Place

Washington, D.C.

Date of Decision

14 June 1943

Decision

The Supreme Court struck down the West Virginia flag salute law.

Related Cases

• Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1879).
• Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940).
• Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972).

Sources

Eastland, Terry. Religious Liberty in the Supreme Court. Washington, DC: Ethics and Public Policy Center, 1993.

Further Readings

• Curtis, Michael Kent, ed. The Constitution and the Flag. New York, NY: Garland, 1993.
• Newton, Merlin Owen. Armed with the Constitution: Jehovah's Witnesses in Alabama and the U.S. Supreme Court, 1939-1946. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995.
• Stevens, Leonard A. Salute! The Case of the Bible vs. the Flag. New York, NY: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1973.