Because Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that saluting the flag or reciting the Pledge of Allegiance amounts to worshiping secular authority, they prohibit their school-aged children from engaging in the practice. The decision upheld a Pennsylvania school district’s expulsion of a Jehovah’s Witness brother and sister. A mere three years later, even though the United States itself was now at war, the court reversed itself. “Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard,” he wrote in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. The consequences of the decision were alarming, and the country paid close attention as the court took up the issue for reconsideration.

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Persons: Robert Jackson, ”, Dobbs Organizations: West Virginia State, of Education, Minersville, Jackson, Health Organization Locations: Europe, United States, West Virginia