McCollum v. Board of Education

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.In 1940, interested members of the Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish faiths formed an association named the Champaign Council on Religious Education.McCollum also complained that the school district's religious education classes violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.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.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.
Supreme Court of the United StatesL. Ed. 2dU.S. LEXISN.E.2dFred M. VinsonHugo BlackStanley F. ReedFelix FrankfurterWilliam O. DouglasFrank MurphyRobert H. JacksonWiley B. RutledgeHarold H. BurtonWikisourceUnited States Supreme Courtseparation of church and statereleased timeChampaign, IllinoisVashti McCollumProtestantCatholicJewishatheistEstablishment Clause of the First Amendmentseparation of church and state in the United StatesEqual Protection ClauseFourteenth AmendmentChampaign CountyIllinois Supreme CourtUS Supreme CourtAmerican Unitarian AssociationSynagogue Council of AmericaGeneral Conference of Seventh-day AdventistsBaptist Joint Committee of Religious LibertyStanley Forman ReedZorach v. ClausonNew York StateList of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 333public domain materialfederal judiciary of the United StatesMcCollum, VashtiU.S. Supreme CourtEstablishment ClauseFirst Amendment to the United States ConstitutionMarsh v. ChambersLynch v. DonnellyBoard of Trustees of Scarsdale v. McCrearyCounty of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties UnionVan Orden v. PerryMcCreary County v. American Civil Liberties UnionPleasant Grove City v. SummumSalazar v. BuonoTown of Greece v. GallowayAmerican Legion v. American Humanist AssociationWalz v. Tax Comm'n of the City of New YorkBob Jones University v. United StatesEstate of Thornton v. Caldor, Inc.Corp. of Presiding Bishop v. AmosTexas Monthly, Inc. v. BullockCity of Boerne v. FloresCutter v. WilkinsonEverson v. Board of EducationFlast v. CohenLemon v. KurtzmanTilton v. RichardsonCommittee for Public Education v. NyquistValley Forge Christian College v. Americans United for Separation of Church & StateMueller v. AllenAguilar v. FeltonWitters v. Washington Department of Services for the BlindZobrest v. Catalina Foothills School DistrictBoard of Ed. of Kiryas Joel Village School Dist. v. GrumetAgostini v. FeltonMitchell v. HelmsZelman v. Simmons-HarrisLocke v. DaveyArizona Christian Sch. Tuition Org. v. WinnTrinity Lutheran Church v. ComerEspinoza v. Montana Department of RevenueCarson v. MakinOklahoma Statewide Charter School Board v. DrummondEngel v. VitaleAbington School District v. SchemppEpperson v. ArkansasStone v. GrahamWallace v. JaffreeEdwards v. AguillardWestside Community Board of Ed. v. MergensLee v. WeismanSanta Fe Ind. School Dist. v. DoeElk Grove Unif. School Dist. v. NewdowKennedy v. Bremerton School Dist.Lamb's Chapel v. Center Moriches Union Free School Dist.Capitol Square Review & Advisory Board v. PinetteRosenberger v. Univ. of VirginiaGood News Club v. Milford Central SchoolShurtleff v. City of BostonWatson v. JonesUnited States v. BallardPresbyterian Church v. Hull ChurchSerbian Orthodox Diocese v. MilivojevichHein v. Freedom From Religion FoundationBlue lawsMcGowan v. MarylandBraunfeld v. BrownTorcaso v. WatkinsMcDaniel v. PatyHarris v. McRaeLarkin v. Grendel's Den, Inc.Bowen v. KendrickTrump v. Hawaii