In West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court decided that schools cannot force students to salute the American flag under the First Amendment.
The West Virginia Board of Education had a policy that teachers and students were required to salute the flag during the Pledge of Allegiance. When two Jehovah’s Witness children opted not to salute the flag, the administration sent them home and threatened to charge the parents with inspiring juvenile delinquency or send the students to reform school.
The Supreme Court took issue with the West Virginia law in this 1943 decision, stating that “if there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.” The court reversed the precedent in Minersville School District v. Gobitis and ruled that mandatory flag saluting violates the principle of free speech.
