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Minersville School District v. Gobitis
The court looked at weather Pennsylvania law required students to stand for the Pledge of Alleghenies. Courts decided 8-1 favor of school policy ruling government could require respect for the flag as a key symbol of national unity. -
Cantwell v. Connecticut
Court considered whether a Connecticut statute required a permit to solicit for religious or charitable purposes violated the Free Speech or Free Exercising right. It ruled unanimously against the state, noting that although general regulations on solicitation are legitimate, in allowing local officials to determine which causes were religious and which ones were not and to issue and deny permits accordingly, the state of Connecticut took on the role of determining religious truth. -
Braunfeld v. Brown
The Court looked at whether a Pennsylvania “blue law” which allowed only certain types of stores to remain open for business on Sundays violated the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment by imposing an undue economic burden on members of the Orthodox Jewish community, whose faith requires them to close their businesses from nightfall Friday to nightfall Saturday. In a 6-3 decision, the Court didnt violate the Free Exercise Clause. -
Bethel School District v. Fraser
Matthew Fraser gave a speech at school that contained "elaborate, graphic, and explicit sexual metaphor” in reference to another student. Speech caused other students to act inappropriately, school called it a disruption to school and suspended Fraser. -
Epperson v. Arkansas
The Court looked at whether an Arkansas law prohibiting the teaching of evolution violated the free-speech rights of teachers and/or the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Court further ruled that the First Amendment does not permit a state to require teaching and learning to be tailored to the principles or prohibitions of any religious sect or dogma. -
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community Schools District
Group of students wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam war, teachers and staff didn't agree, told them to take them off or don't return to school. After that, they returned back to school after Christmas wearing all black cloths. -
Stone v. Graham
The Court considered whether a Kentucky state law mandating the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The Court also found that by mandating posting of the Commandments under the guidance of the legislature, the state was providing official support of religion, which was a violation of the Establishment Clause. -
Wallace v. Jaffree
Examined whether an Alabama law authorizing a period of silence for meditation or voluntary prayer violated the Establishment clause of the first amendment. A 6-3 decision the Court struck the law as violating the Establishment Clause because it had no secular purpose and because the addition of “and voluntary prayer” to the wording of an almost identical earlier statute “indicated that the State intended to characterize prayer as a favored practice, effectively endorsing a religion.” -
Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier
School principal removed who articles about teen pregnancy and divorce because he thought the content was inappropriate. School newspaper was produced by the journalism class. Cathy Kuhlmeier and two other students sued the school. -
Employment Division v. Smith
The Court examined whether the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment allowed the state of Oregon to deny unemployment benefits to someone fired from a job for smoking peyote as part of a religious ceremony. 6-3 decision, because ingestion of peyote was prohibited under Oregon law, and because that prohibition is constitutional, Oregon did not violate the Free Exercise Clause in denying persons unemployment compensation when their dismissal results from use of the drug. -
Morse v. Frederick
A senior named Joseph Frederick and some of his friends held up a 14-foot banner reading "BONG HITS FOR JESUS". The principal, Deborah Morse, confiscated the banner and suspended Mr. Frederick. -
Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association
U.S. Supreme Court rules that video games are a form of speech protected by the First Amendment. The Court holds California’s law restricting the sale or rental of violent video games to minors is unconstitutional
