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Wisconsin v. Yoder
 | |
| Wisconsin v. Yoder | |
| Reference: 406 US 205 | |
| Term: 1972 | |
| Important Dates | |
| Argued: Dec 8, 1971 Decided: May 15, 1972 | |
| Outcome | |
| Wisconsin Supreme Court affirmed | |
| Majority | |
| Warren Burger • William Douglas • William Brennan • Potter Stewart • Byron White • Thurgood Marshall • Harry Blackmun | |
Wisconsin v. Yoder is a case decided on May 15, 1972, by the United States Supreme Court affirming that an individual's right to exercise religion under the First Amendment outweighed the state's interests in promoting school attendance beyond the eighth grade. The Supreme Court affirmed the ruling of the Wisconsin Supreme Court.[1]
Why it matters: The Supreme Court's decision in this case established the precedent that an individual's right to exercise their religious beliefs under the First Amendment takes priority over the state's interests in compulsory education. To read more about the impact of Wisconsin v. Yoder click here.
Background
- See also: First Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment
Members of the Old Order Amish religion and the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church were convicted of violating Wisconsin's school attendance law, which requires a child's school attendance until age 16. The parents declined to send their children to public or private school after they had completed the eighth grade.[2]
Evidence in the case demonstrated that the Amish provide continuing informal vocational education to their children designed to prepare them for life in the rural Amish community. The evidence also revealed that the respondents believed high school attendance went against the Amish religion and way of life.[2]
The Wisconsin Supreme Court sustained the respondents' claim that the compulsory school attendance law violated their rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.[2]
Oral argument
Oral argument was held on Dec 8, 1971. The case was decided on May 15, 1972.[1]
Decision
The Supreme Court decided 7-0 to affirm the decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Justice Warren Burger delivered the opinion of the court. Justices Lewis Powell and William Rehnquist did not participate in the decision of the case.[2]
Opinions
Opinion of the court
Justice Warren Burger, writing for the court, argued that while the state has a high responsibility for the education of its citizens, it infringes on the fundamental rights and interests of those who wish no longer to send their children to school for religious reasons:[2]
| “ | Thus, a State's interest in universal education, however highly we rank it, is not totally free from a balancing process when it impinges on fundamental rights and interests, such as those specifically protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, and the traditional interest of parents with respect to the religious upbringing of their children so long as they, in the words of Pierce, "prepare [them] for additional obligations." 268 U.S. at 268 U. S. 535. [3] | ” |
| —Warren Burger, majority opinion in Wisconsin v. Yoder[2] | ||
Concurring opinion
Justice Byron White, joined by Justices William Brennan and Potter Stewart wrote a concurring opinion, agreeing that the state interests do not take precedent over religious freedom:
| “ | Cases such as this one inevitably call for a delicate balancing of important but conflicting interests. I join the opinion and judgment of the Court because I cannot say that the State's interest in requiring two more years of compulsory education in the ninth and tenth grades outweighs the importance of the concededly sincere Amish religious practice to the survival of that sect.[3] | ” |
| —Byron White, concurring opinion in Wisconsin v. Yoder[2] | ||
Impact
| Federalism |
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| •Key terms • Court cases •Major arguments • State responses to federal mandates • Federalism by the numbers • Index of articles about federalism |
Wisconsin v. Yoder established the precedent that an individual's religious interests supersede a state's interests in compulsory education, per the free exercise clause of the First Amendment.[1][2]
See also
External links
- Full text of case syllabus and opinions (Justia)
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Search Google News for this topic
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Oyez, "Wisconsin v. Yoder", accessed July 7, 2022
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Justia, "Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972)" accessed July 8, 2022
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
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