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Gitlow v. New York
The Fourteenth Amendmendment incorporates the guarantees of the first Amendment and safeguards against state interference. -
West Virginia v. Barnette
The supreme Court ruled that students may not be required to salute the flag. -
Everson v.Bd. of Ed
The first major establishment clause decision, wherein the Court held that the government cannot aid any one religionor even al religions, but instead must be neutral toward religon. -
McCollum v. Bd. of Education
Religous instruction during school hours was declared unconstitutional. -
Zorach v.Clausen
Rlease- time religon was upheld by the New york Court of appeals. -
Engle v. Vitale
The Supreme Court declared that school sponsored prayerand/or bible reading violated the establishment clause. Similarly, the Sixth Circuit court helld unconstitutional the practice of opening school board meetings with prayer. -
Mozert v. Hawkins Cnty Bd. of Education
The Court ruled against parents who sought to have their children excused from reading a basal reading series. The appeals court found no burden on the students' religous beliefs since they were not required to perform religous exercises or process belief. -
Lemon v.Kurtzman
The Supreme Court announced a three -part test to evaluate establishment cause in this case. The government action or policy must have (1)have a secular purpose (2) have a primary effect that neither advances nor impedes religion, and(3) avoid excessive entanglement of government with religion. -
Stone v. Graham
The Court exempted Amish children from school attendance upon completing the eighth grade -
Wallace v. Jaffe
The Supreme Court struck down an alabama law in 1985 that inserted the phrase "or voluntary prayer" into an existing statue that authorized a period of silent meditation. -
Lee v. Weisman
The Rhode Island school district was declared unconstitutional by the Court as a violation of the establishment clause, due to their practice for principals to invite members of the clergy to deliver invocations and benedictions at graduation ceremonies. Though attendance was voluntary, the Court considered that students would feel coercive pressure to attend such an important school-sponsored event. -
Doe v. Madison School District
The Ninth Circuit court upheld the school policy that prohibited school authorities from censoring the student's speeches. The court considered the ceremony to be a forum for student expression, where the speakers had been selected on secular criteria and had not been advised to include devotionals in their remarks -
Altman v. Bedford Cent. Sch. Dist.
The Court ruled in favor of parents who claimed that the program offended their Catholic faith. -
Lassonde V. Pleasanton Unified School District
Lassonde alleged that school officials violated his First Amendment rights by censoring sectarian, proselytizing portions of a speech that Plaintiff gave at his high school graduation ceremony. The district court granted summary judgment in favor of Defendants, concluding that the school officials' acts were necessary to avoid violating the Establishment Clause. Students may rent space and conduct baccalaureate ceremonies that include prayer, if public schools are in no way involved. -
Newdow v. United States
The only case that has reached the court so far concerning the phrase "under God' was dismissed on procedural grounds because the father who brought the suit did not have legal custody of the student.