Minersville School District v. Gobitis
| Minersville School District v. Gobitis | |
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| Argued April 25, 1940 Decided June 3, 1940 |
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| Full case name | Minersville School District, Board of Education of Minersville School District, et al. v. Walter Gobitis, et al. |
| Citations | 310 U.S. 586 (more)
60 S. Ct. 1010; 84 L. Ed. 1375; 1940 U.S. LEXIS 1136; 17 Ohio Op. 417; 127 A.L.R. 1493
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| Prior history | Judgment for plaintiffs, injunction granted, 24 F. Supp. 271 (E.D. Pa. 1938); affirmed, 108 F.2d 683 (3d Cir. 1939); certiorari granted, 309 U.S. 645 (1940) |
| Subsequent history | None |
| Holding | |
| The First Amendment does not require States to excuse public school students from saluting the American flag and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance on religious grounds. Third Circuit reversed. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Frankfurter, joined by Roberts, Black, Reed, Douglas, Murphy, Hughes |
| Concurrence | McReynolds (without separate opinion) |
| Dissent | Stone |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
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Overruled by
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| West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943) | |
Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 (1940), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the religious rights of public school students under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The Court ruled that public schools could compel students—in this case, Jehovah's Witnesses—to salute the American Flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance despite the students' religious objections to these practices. This decision led to increased persecution of Witnesses in the United States. The Supreme Court overruled this decision a mere three years later, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943).
Compulsory flag pledges. Mandatory flag pledges in public schools were motivated by patriotic fervor in wartime America. The first known mandatory flag pledges were instituted in a number of states during the Spanish–American War. During World War I, many more states instituted mandatory flag pledges with only a few dissents recorded by the American Civil Liberties Union.
1935, June: Position of the Jehovah's Witnesses. On Monday, June 3, 1935, Watch Tower Society president J. F. Rutherford, was interviewed at a Witness convention about "the flag salute by children in school". He told the convention audience that to salute an earthly emblem, ascribing salvation to it, was unfaithfulness to God. Rutherford said that he would not do it." While the matter was not yet established doctrine or written policy of Jehovah's Witnesses, at least some Witness families quickly made a personal conscientious decision on the matter.
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