jun 14, 1943 - West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

Description:

The West Virginia State Board of Education made it a requirement that everyone salute the flag and when children from a family of Jehovah's Witnesses refused to salute the flag, they were sent home. They also were seen as delinquents and were threatened with reform school. In a 6-3 decision, the court sided with the children and their families, deciding that forcing children to salute the flag was unconstitutional.

World War II was still going on when this case happened, but this case was more in favor of free speech than against. This case proved that rules that denied freedom of speech and religion are unconstitutional and the children that broke the rules peacefully were allowed to do so. This helped set up for later peaceful protests of unconstitutional rules, especially in schools.

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