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Cantwell v. Connecticut
Newton Cantwell and his sons, Jehovah's witnesses, were trying to convert a primarily catholic neighborhood in Connecticut. They were arrested for violating a common-law breach of the peace.The court unanimously agreed that his actions were protected by the first and fourteenth amendments. -
Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire
A man named Walter Chaplinski was distributing literature that supported his beliefs against conventional religion and bashed the town Marshall and calling him profane names. He was arrested under a state law that prohibited intentionally offensive language. He argued that the law went against the first amendment. Justice Frank Murphy upheld his conviction, citing certain exceptions to the first amendment. -
Everson v Board of Education
Applied the Establishment Clause which imposed restrictions on state governments to denominate legislative privileges to religious denominations. -
Lemon v. Kurtzman
Incident in which the superintendent of a school district violated the establishment clause and reimbursed only teachers of catholic private schools for the use of public textbooks and instructional materials. -
Wisconsin v. Yoder
Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller, members of the old order Amish religion, were prosecuted under Wisconsin law requiring their children to attend school until at least 16 and proceed into high school, but they argued it was against their religion. The court ruled that an individual's interests in free exercise of religion outweighed the state's interest in keeping children in school past 8th grade. -
Lynch v. Donnelly
Challenged the legality of Christmas decorations on town property. The court ruled that the city had not violated the establishment clause. -
Wallace v. Jaffree
The supreme court ruled that an Alabama Statute that required a one minute period of silence for "meditation or voluntary prayer" violated the first amendment's establishment clause. -
County of Allegheny v. American Civil Liberties Union
Argued the constitutionality of two recurring Christmas and Hanukkah holiday displays located in Pittsburgh. The court ruled that the creche inside of a courthouse unmistakably endorsed Christianity and violated the establishment clause. It clearly displayed the words "Glory to God for the birth of Jesus Christ. -
Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah
Congregants of the Santeria religion sought to establish a house of worship, but their religion includes sacrificial killings of animals.The city referenced the florida animal cruelty laws which punished anyone who unnecessarily killed animals but the Supreme Court affirmed the principle that laws targeting specific religions violate the free exercise clause of the First Amendment. -
Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow
Argued that the words "under god" were a violation of the establishment clause.The US ninth circuit court for appeals ruled that requiring the words "under god" to be recited violates the first amendments establishment clause.
