Engel V. Vitale Summary

an you imagine yourself having to start your daily school routine with a prayer? This became a serious question to be taken up by the Supreme Court of the US, in November of 1951. Following an increase in in juvenile crime (many believe caused by the Korean War). The New York Board of Regents adopted a prayer to be recited in NY public schools (Dierenfield 67). The prayer was established because “...the regents believed that such a program would ensure that school children would acquire ‘respect for lawful authority and obedience to law’ ”

Lemon V. Kurtzman is a very important court case that made it all the way to the Supreme Court. Being that it isn’t a huge case in regards to the Supreme Court it is often overlooked. But the outcome of the case changed how Americans regarding certain things regarding the constitution constitutional. The when,why,what, who,and where will show the detail of this court case and its importance.

Perhaps the Constitution is one of the greatest accomplishments of the United States of America. The United State’s Constitution was revolutionary to government; it was the first of its kind to actually work. The Constitution did not just appear overnight; it took the effort of many headstrong, liberty-minded people to accomplish the government that we still hold fast to and cherish today. One might consider the Revolutionary Era as the initial start of the Constitutional government that the United States has today. In the eighteenth century, Britain ruled the American Colonies with salutary neglect up until the late 1700s.

Spring Branch I.S.D. v. Stamos Supreme Court of Texas, 1985 695.S.W.2d 556 [27 Educ. L. Rep. 640] This case examined the constitutionality of the Texas Education Code 21.920 (b) “No Pass, No Play” rule: A student, other than a mentally retarded student, enrolled in a school district in this state shall be suspended from participation in any extracurricular activity sponsored or sanctioned by the school district during the grade reporting period after a grade reporting period in which the student received a grade lower than the equivalent of 70 on a scale of 100 in any academic class. The campus principal may remove this suspension if the class is an identified honors or advanced class. A student may not be suspended under this subsection

PARTIES: The named plaintiff, Oliver L. Brown, is the parent of Linda Brown and is African American. Oliver was one of thirteen plaintiffs in this lawsuit. The remaining plaintiffs included in this lawsuit were Darlene Brown, Lena Carper, Sadie Emmanuel, Marguerite Emerson, Shirley Fleming, Zelma Henderson, Shirley Hodison, Maude Lawton, Alma Lewis, Iona Richardson, and Lucinda Todd. These thirteen plaintiffs represented twenty children in this lawsuit.

During the colonial period there were many differences in the 3 main regions of our country (just as there are today). If we begin with the Southern colonies we will find a group of settlers whose lives revolved around agriculture. Poor white settlers worked on rural farms while the wealthier populous owned large plantations with slaves and indentured servants. No public schools were in existence, and unless you were a wealthy white male, there was not much chance of you getting an education at all. Only the wealthy parents could afford tutors for their children, sometimes even putting their money together to get a tutor for a group of children.

On June 25, 1962, a Supreme Court case, Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421, was decided. The lawsuit was brought to the United States Supreme Court by parents (of students who attended schools in the Herricks School District) who complained that a nondenominational prayer instituted by the New York Board of Regents in their district was unconstitutional. The parents argued that the prayer, although optional, violated their First Amendment Rights. When the 6-1 (two justices did not vote) decision was made, it was ruled that voluntary prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. One concurring opinion was given, and the single judge that did not vote the same as the rest provided

I A. B. Cantwell v Connecticut (1940) D. Jesse Cantwell and his son going door to door in their neighborhood talking badly to people about the religion of catholicism which lead to two people becoming angry. This leads to the Cantwells being arrested for breaking a local ordinance that requires a permit for solicitation and also for encouraging an infraction of the peace E. Were the Cantwells first amendment free speech rights violated when they were religious views were suppressed and did they encourage an infraction of the peace or not. F.The court ruled that you could restrict general solicitation but you could not put limitation based on religion and that if you did so it would be trying to silence someone's views.

The pledge that all American public schools recite today was written by Francis Bellamy in 1892. It was first published on September 8th in The Youth’s Companion, a popular children’s magazine. This edition of the magazine celebrated 400 years of Columbus’s arrival to America. This began a campaign to spread nationalism to children and sell flags to public schools. This original pledge stated.

“Civil rights are rights that constitute free and equal citizenship and include personal, political, and economic rights” (Altman). Discrimination is defined as denying someone these rights based off of race, sex, ethnicity, etc. Affirmative action was put into place to ensure equal representation and fair treatment of minorities in college admission policies. Since it began, it has increased the number of minorities admitted into colleges and has made it harder for average white Americans to be admitted. Many have begun to argue reverse discrimination, particularly after the Bakke case.

The First Amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." The First Amendment has been combined into the Fourteenth Amendment and relates to the states and their divisions. The first provision is called the Establishment Clause and the second is the Free Exercise Clause. This means that there is an assurance of religious freedom that has a double layer to it. Firstly, the Establishment Clause forbids laws demanding that anyone has to accept any belief or the practice of any form of worship.

The Supreme Court case of Engel v. Vitale’s decision was based on the establishment clause. The case of Engel v. Vitale struck down state organized prayer in school. The prayer had government endorsement and was thus considered unconstitutional. The Supreme Court case of Oregon v. Smith used the free exercise clause the basis of their decision.

The unconstitutional Pledge should banned. “I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.” These are the 31 words millions of children across the United States recite each and every morning as they face the flag and place their hand over their hearts. Most students go through this daily obligation without objection and probably without giving it much thought at all, however that is not true for all students. Many students oppose the pledge for a multitude of reasons, some on philosophical grounds, and others for religious reasons.