Abington School District v. Schempp

For the second time in two years, the Court headed by Chief Justice Warren handed down a decision prohibiting religion in the public schools. This time, because of the hostile response to the first decision, the Court outlined a clear standard for evaluating legislation that might offend the First Amendment's Establishment Clause.

In 1962, the Supreme Court decided the case of Engel v. Vitale, striking down the recitation of a state-authorized prayer in public schools. Engel was greeted with public outrage and was denounced by congressmen and cardinals alike. When Representative Frank Becker sponsored a constitutional amendment to overturn the decision, a Gallup Poll revealed that 76 percent of Americans supported this proposal. Becker's was in fact just one of 150 such amendments, all of which ultimately failed.

Schempp was, in a sense, a case meant to test the resolve of the justices and the public. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) sought out the Schempps and argued their case for them. They were a Unitarian family with school age children living in Pennsylvania. They objected to a state law requiring that a Bible passage be read each morning in the public schools. Their case was joined with that of Madalyn Murray and her son William, professed atheists and residents of Baltimore, Maryland. The Murrays likewise objected to a state-sponsored program of daily Bible readings in the public schools. In the first case, the parents won their trial; in the second, the school board was victorious. The Supreme Court agreed to review both decisions as a means of clarifying any doubt that may have lingered in the wake of Engel.