McCollum v. Board of Education
McCollum v. Board of Education | |
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Holding | |
The use of public school facilities by religious organizations to give religious instruction to school children violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. | |
Court membership | |
| |
Case opinions | |
Majority | Black, joined by Vinson, Douglas, Murphy, Rutledge, Burton |
Concurrence | Frankfurter, joined by Jackson, Rutledge, Burton |
Concurrence | Jackson |
Dissent | Reed |
Laws applied | |
U.S. Const., Amends. I and XIV |
McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948), was a landmark
The case tested the principle of "released time" in which public schools set aside class time for religious instruction. The Court struck down a Champaign, Illinois, program as unconstitutional because of the public school system's involvement in the administration, organization, and support of religious instruction classes. The Court noted that some 2,000 communities nationwide offered similar released time programs affecting 1.5 million students.[1]
Background
The case was brought by Vashti McCollum, the mother of a student enrolled in the Champaign public school district.
In 1940, interested members of the
McCollum, an
- In actual practice, certain Protestant groups exercised an advantage over other Protestant denominations.
- The school district's calling the classes "voluntary" was in name only because school officials often coerced or forced students' participation.
- The power exercised by the Champaign Council on Religious Education in its selection of instructors and the school superintendent's oversight of these instructors served to determine which religious faiths participated in the instructional program and constituted prior censorship of religion.
In her suit, McCollum asked that the Board of Education be ordered to "adopt and enforce rules and regulations prohibiting all instruction in and teaching of all religious education in all public schools in Champaign District Number 71, and in all public school houses and buildings in said district when occupied by public schools."
The Circuit Court of
Decision of the Court
McCollum sought review from the
On March 8, 1948, the Court ruled 8-1 in favor of McCollum and ruled that the classes were unconstitutional.
In the majority opinion, written by Justice Hugo Black, the Court held:
[The facts] show the use of tax-supported property for religious instruction and the close cooperation between the school authorities and the religious council in promoting religious education. The operation of the state's compulsory education system thus assists and is integrated with the program of religious instruction carried on by separate religious sects. Pupils compelled by law to go to school for secular education are released... in part from their legal duty upon the condition that they attend the religious classes. To hold that a state cannot, consistently with the First and Fourteenth Amendments, utilize its public school system to aid any or all religious faiths or sects in the dissemination of their doctrines and ideals does not ... manifest a governmental hostility to religion or religious teachings.... For the First Amendment rests upon the premise that both religion and government can best work to achieve their lofty aims if each is left free from the other within its respective sphere.
Dissent
The lone dissenting justice, Stanley Forman Reed, objected to the breadth of the majority's interpretation of the Establishment Clause and stated that an incidental support of religion should have been permissible with a more narrow reading of the First Amendment.
Subsequent developments
The Supreme Court's ruling remanded the case to the Illinois high court for relief consistent with the federal ruling.
The Court revisited the issue of religious instruction in
See also
References
- ^ McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948). This article incorporates public domain material from judicial opinions or other documents created by the federal judiciary of the United States.
- ^ Lieblich, Julia (May 18, 1998), "Back to the Future?", Christianity Today.
- ^ Dart, John (September 19, 2006), "A pioneer figure in church-state rulings", Christian Century.
Further reading
- Cushman, Robert F. (1950). "Public Support of Religious Education in American Constitutional Law". Illinois Law Review. 45: 333. ISSN 0276-9948.
- Patric, Gordon (1957). "The Impact of a Court Decision: Aftermath of the McCollum Case". BYU Journal of Public Law. 6: 455. ISSN 0896-2383.
- Sullivan, Russell N. (1949). "Religious Education in the Schools". Law and Contemporary Problems. 14 (1): 92–112. JSTOR 1189950.
- ISBN 978-1-877733-08-6.
- McCollum, Dannel (2008). The Lord Was Not On Trial: The Inside Story of the Supreme Court's Precedent-Setting McCollum Ruling. Americans For Religious Liberty. ISBN 978-0-9821254-0-3.
External links
- Text of McCollum v. Board of Education, 333 U.S. 203 (1948) is available from: Cornell CourtListener Findlaw Google Scholar Justia Library of Congress OpenJurist Oyez (oral argument audio)
- TIME article on McCollum v. Board of Education case in circuit court, dated September 24, 1945
- TIME article on Illinois Supreme Court's ruling against McCollum, dated February 10, 1947
- TIME article on oral arguments before U.S. Supreme Court, dated December 22, 1947
- TIME article on U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of McCollum, dated March 22, 1948
- TIME article on theologists' views of ruling in McCollum case, dated July 19, 1948
- TIME article on Catholic bishops' denunciation of Supreme Court ruling, dated November 29, 1948
- PBS documentary The Lord is not on trial here today