What did the Supreme Court say in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette?
About this video
In West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), Jehovah's Witness schoolchildren refused to salute the flag and say the pledge because they believed it violated the biblical commandment about graven images. Despite World War II-era laws penalising them, the Supreme Court upheld their First Amendment rights. It was the first case holding that the government may not compel anyone to express ideas or beliefs inconsistent with their own values, and it spoke of an implied freedom of conscience and thought.
You'll be able to
- describe the facts of West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette.
- explain the principle that the government may not compel people to express beliefs.
- explain why the case mattered for everyone, not just students.
Key words
- Compelled speech
- When the government forces someone to say or express something.
- Freedom of conscience
- The right to hold your own beliefs and values without government control.
- Desecration
- Treating something sacred with disrespect.
- Graven image
- A carved idol; the Witnesses believed saluting the flag was like worshipping one.
- Landmark decision
- A court ruling so important that it changes the law.
Transcript
So many important First Amendment cases involved students. It was students and young people who dared to stand up to assert their free speech rights and ultimately led to great protections not only for students in public schools but also for all the rest of us. One of the very early and most important free speech decisions that the Supreme Court has ever issued was in 1943, West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnett.
The facts of the case involved Jehovah's witness school children who believed that it was a desecration to salute the American flag to pledge allegiance. In their view, that violated the second Biblical Commandment about graven images. They very courageously refused to salute the flag in the face of World War II era patriotic laws that penalized parents and students for not saluting the flag in a landmark decision with very eloquent language about freedom of conscience and freedom of thought and freedom of belief.
The Supreme Court upheld the First Amendment Rights, not only of those particular school children but of all of the rest of us. It was the very first case in which the Court held that government may not compel any of us to express ideas or beliefs that are inconsistent with our own values. It was the first case in which the Court talked eloquently about the implied freedom of conscience and freedom of thought that is bound up in the express language of the First Amendment.
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