Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883

Supreme Court: A right to refuse to salute the flag?

In 1940, in Minersville v. Gobitis, the Supreme Court upheld a state law requiring school children to salute the flag, despite religious objections by Jehovah Witnesses, who said the statutory requirement violated their religious liberties under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment.

Three years later, on June 14, 1943, in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, the court changed i...