Gobitis

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Recommended: Minersville School District vs. Gobitis

Barnette, Frankfurter, & Judicial Review

This article, which was written by Jeffrey Sutton, focuses on two Supreme Court cases that are regarded “flag salute” cases, judicial review and interpretation of the First Amendment. The two cases were Minersville School District v. Gobitis and West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette. Both of these cases dealt with Jehovah’s Witness children refusing to salute the flag in school and being expelled. The article takes the reader into the times in which these cases were decided, which was World War II era United States and it also takes the reader into the depths of the everyday life of the Jehovah’s Witnesses during that time which was very necessary to the understanding of the article.

The first case that was brought up was Minersville School District v. Gobitis. The background of this case is that two children William and Lillian Gobitis attended school in the small town of Minersville, Pennsylvania. The school board in that town required that all teachers and students recite the Pledge of Allegiance and salute the flag of the United States at the beginning of each school day. This was something that was not really new as it had been around in schools since 1892. But in 1940 the Pledge took a whole new meaning with World War II taking place in Europe and Asia. The Jehovah’s Witness community took issue with this because the whole practice went against their faith. In 1935 Joseph Rutherford, who was the leader of the Witnesses, gave a speech in which he encouraged his fellow Witness to refuse to take part in the practice of the Pledge and salute, because according to him the Word of God (the Bible) was the supreme authority. With that bein...

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...ubling down on his Gobitis position instead of retreating. I do not agree with Frankfurters position on this issue, but I do admire his resolve.
The rest of the article really talks about Frankfurters dissent and more judicial review. The article closed with an interesting observation on Frankfurter saying that wisdom did come to him, but it came late seeing that he found it when he had a huge hand in Brown v. Board of Education.

Overall I think that this was a very informative and useful article to read. It really gives an insight to the times in which the two cases were decided. I find it very helpful when something I read makes me feel like I am there in the story. This article did that and I found it an actual pleasure to read, and it even had some funny points. This was definitely one of the more enjoyable reads that I have done in my college career.

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