Preview

Engel Vs Vitale Case Study

Better Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1310 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Engel Vs Vitale Case Study
SECTION 1: INTRODUCTION

A. According to the First Amendment, the enactment of any law establishing a religion is prohibited. Under the supervision of the Constitution, Congress cannot interfere with the freedom of religion; however, the Fourteenth Amendment does not allow the states (or their officials) to limit the basic rights of all citizens.

B. In the case of Engel v. Vitale, the Board of Regents for the State of New York approved a short, voluntary prayer to be recited at the start of school each day. A group of parents whose children attended the School District disagreed with this religious practice and argued that the reading of a nondenominational prayer at the start of the school day violates the "establishment of religion" clause
…show more content…
The court case of Engel v. Vitale originated in the state of New York, and was brought to the attention of a New York State Court by the malcontented parents of their children enrolled in the public school system. Reasoning behind the case being sustained within the state of New York rests as it was the place of origin as well as it was, in fact, the School District of New York under inquiry. After the confrontation, the New York Court of Appeals had approved the lower state courts which had supported New York's power to use the daily prayer in public schools so long as the students were not required to join in the …show more content…
There is a profound majority in the case of Engel v. Vitale. The group consists of citizens of New York (the parents of the children attending public schools), a variety of administrative officials, as well as the founding fathers. This majority believes that the prayer authorized by the New York Regents not only violates the First Amendment but was offensive to parents and pupils of other religions. As a concurring opinion, some are under the impression that the prayer was composed as part of a governmental program to further religious beliefs, ("Legal Encyclopedia") and was being forced upon unwilling students.

B. As written by Justice Hugo Black in 1962, "The religious nature of prayer was recognized by Jefferson, and has been concurred in by theological writers, the United States Supreme court, and State courts and administrative officials, including New York's Commissioner of Education. A committee of the New York legislature has agreed" ("Engel v. Vitale"). Proving that the Regents' prayer was plainly religious, the authorization and use of the prayer in public schools was and still is illegal as established by the First Amendment and reinstated by the Fourteenth

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    Pennsylvania and Rhode Island had statutes that allowed the state to pay for parts of non-secular, non-public education such as teachers instructional materials, salaries, and textbooks for religious subjects. The appellants in Pennsylvania believed that this was violating the separation of church and state described in the First Amendment. In the Rhode Island case, the appellees sued to have the statute in question declared unconstitutional by arguing that it violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. The district court found in favor of the appellees and held that the statute violated the First Amendment.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    The 6–3 decision of the majority was delivered by Justice Steven. For his majority opinion, the Alabama law "silence meditation or voluntary prayer" was unconstitutional. He found that was just to promote religion. He also found the implication of the words "voluntary prayer" as an issue of the Alabama law. The Justice Steven just focused on the purpose behind the law. The word "voluntary prayer" is not a protecting the student 's right but it encourage them to voluntary to prayer. One of the Judge also agree with his decision, Judge W.Brevard Hand, ruled prayer decisions in public school were wrong because this law is not apply to the states. As many states, they want to have the same decision and to make the world more successful. They both agree with Wallace v. Jaffree that use instructional times for silent school prayer and in public school are wrong. But with that decision, Justice William Rehnquist disagreed with them. He declared and endorses prayer in public school, even the religious in this situation. In addition, The District Court permitted the prayers to continue, because they ultimately held that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment does not prohibit a state from establishing a religion. ("Wallace v. Jaffree (1985)"). But the Court of Appeals ruled that they were unconstitutional, because the court had considered and had rejected the historical arguments. Because of that, the state appealed to the Supreme Court. When the law appealed to the Supreme Court, the Former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart noted that they did it as the establishment of a religion of secularism. Also, after many decision, the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren has angered southern conservatives that as many reason they made even more resentment that lead to many problem. Some people of Christian thought it would be good if the prayers at school. But the Supreme Court still…

    • 1976 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Even though the law required parents to send their children to school until the age of sixteen. The state’s interest in universal education against the parents’ fundamental right to freely exercise religion. However, it was determined in this case that the right of free exercise outweighed the interests of the state. Therefore, Court concluded that the parents had demonstrated the sincerity of their religious beliefs and that complying with the law would interfere with their ability to live that life and religion as…

    • 1240 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Engel Vs Vitale Case Study

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In 1962, the New York Law approved a prayer that sent the country into chaos. It all began when the New York Board of Regents authorized a short prayer that students would recite along with the Pledge of Allegiance. According to the school, the prayer was voluntary and non-denominational. The prayer read, "Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon Thee, and beg Thy blessings upon us, our teachers, and our country." Many parents revolted and argued that the voluntary prayer was against their religious beliefs. One group of parents, lead by Steven Engel, took the case to court, claiming that the prayer violated the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Three years later, the controversy appeared in court again as West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette. The case was brought forward on behalf of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. At this point in time, three of the justices that had ruled on the prior case had been replaced. In a 6-3 decision, the court overruled the prior Gobitis resolution and determined that the former resolution violated the students’ freedom of speech and freedom of religion which are guaranteed in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution of the U.S. Although it is up to schools and the government to teach students about patriotism and the importance of our American flag, it is not the role of our public school system to punish students that choose to not participate in the pledge.…

    • 289 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Engal V Vitale is the supreme court decision involving Steven Engel and William Vitale. It was decided on June 25,1962. This case was about mandatory prayer was aloud in school systems. It was ruled unethical under the first amendment because of freedom of religion. This case is important because it’s a precedent for separation of church and state being that education falls under state. I am interested in this case because I went to a catholic school where prayer was required as a part of the curriculum and I’m interested in the rules in the public school system. (Engal V. Vitale, Wikipedia)…

    • 575 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Supreme Court to review the ruling of the court. In 1984 the court made up their mind about the ruling in 1981, now they had to decide if the ruling in 1982 was constitutional. Jaffree argued that the ruling in 1982 was not constitutional, he argued that previous school prayer cases invalidated his case. The court ruled that the ruling in 1982 did not “in any way offend the Constitution”. The court said it “neither proscribes prayer; nor affirms religious belief; nor coerces religious exercise.”…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Charmander if a reasonable accommodation could be made. I would argue that there is indeed a secular purpose for reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. While her own personal views of the advancement of religion is a valid concern, I would see if there other ways around the situation. Would she be willing to have her class listen to the pledge via loudspeaker? Would she allow an individual student to lead the Pledge of Allegiance? I would also inform her that the school would have the right to provide a learning environment without disruption. I would then also inform her that school has the right to set its own curriculum. The children have the religious freedom to practice their own rights to expression as long as it is not disruptive. If she was unwilling to budge on anything I would say that the school has the right to fire her for not fulfilling her duties to teach the curriculum. As this is pointed out in my research on the Seventh District Courts decision. I would also say there doesn’t seem to a Supreme Court decision coming anytime soon that would serve as an all-encompassing Federal…

    • 546 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Abington vs/ Schempp

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In 1949, a state-wide law was passed in Pennsylvania that required public school students to read scriptures from the Bible and recite the Lord's Prayer everyday in class. This law stayed intact until Edward Schempp challenged it nine years later. Pennsylvania wasn't the first or the only state to enforce law making it mandatory for students to read from the Bible during school. Twenty-five additional states had laws allowing "optional" reading for the Bible. But in eleven of the twenty-five states, courts had decided those laws were unconstitutional.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lau vs.Nichols

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages

    During its 1974/75 term the U.S. Supreme Court heard a case filed against the judgment of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in a class action suit brought by non-English speaking Chinese students against officials responsible for the operation of the San Francisco Unified School District. Certiorari[1] is an extraordinary judicial review in which the U.S. Supreme Court review cases of public importance. The primary issue of the case was whether the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment [to the U.S. Constitution, July 9, 1868[2]] apply to the students of the respondents’ school district and whether it can be interpreted in such way that the school system is responsible to assure that students of a particular race, color or national origin [in Lau v. Nichols non-English speaking Chinese students] cannot be denied the opportunity to obtain the same education that is generally obtained by other students in the system.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Fact Pattern

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Speak had issue with is the optional weekly breakfast that President Smacksem would put on for the faculty. The majority of this action is protected by the Constitution. One of the larger issues that Dr. Speak had with this is that the breakfast ends with a Judeo-Christian prayer. Yet the Supreme Court Case of Marsh v. Chambers (1983) is approving of prayer at the end of a state meeting, just as Congress has approved this action. This is not seen as a religious act, but an acknowledgment of beliefs. In addition to Marsh, Greece v. Galloway (2014) helps President Smacksem’s case because Greece ruled that it is unconstitutional to force someone to say a prayer of another religion. Because of that, Dr. Speak cannot press charges on the fact that she asked, and denied, that President Smacksem say a Native American prayer. This does present one of the issues associated with freedom of religion: that you cannot deny someone from practicing something, you cannot favor one religion over another, yet you cannot force someone to acknowledge or say a prayer if they do not want to. If she had an issue with the meeting being held in general, her argument would also fall flat due to the ruling in Board of Education v. Mergens (1990) that ruled that if a school denied a religious program then they would have to deny all programs, and vice versa. Since there is no indication that President Smacksem is denying other religious meetings from being held than we must…

    • 1474 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Engel V Vitale Essay

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In 1951, the New York State Board of Regents gave their approval for a prayer that was to be said every morning in school, along with the Pledge of Allegiance ("Engel v. Vitale (1962)"). The Regents believed this prayer would encourage children to be good citizens, along with other benefits such as developing good character. Although this prayer was not required, many students and parents were opposed to the idea and decided to fight against it. In 1962, a group of angry parents reached the Supreme Court and Engel v. Vitale took place. The parents argued that the school prayer violated the First Amendment, and the Supreme Court ruled in their favor. Engel v. Vitale is a very controversial Supreme Court case, but the Court definitely made the right decision. The separation of church and state is a fundamental part of the United States and it needs to be reinforced and preserved, which is exactly what Engel v. Vitale did.…

    • 1735 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The issue was whether school sponsored nondenominational prayer in public schools violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prayer in Public Schools

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Should there be time set aside in school for kids to pray? These are some of…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in the Board of Education v. Pico discussed the issue of whether the school's board acted morally. The school board decided to remove nine books that they deemed to be anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy. The Supreme Court was asked to decide if the school board had valid reasons to remove these books from the school's library. The books weren't required readings and were optional information for the students to extend their personal interests and thoughts. The First amendment was the main issue that became the focal point of this case. The majority opinion reflected what five judges concluded after they were presented with the case. They agreed that the First amendment imposes limitations on the school boards reasons to remove the books from the library's shelves. Students do not vacate their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression as they enter the school's property. Removing the books implicitly violated the student's rights because there weren't any valid reasons provided by the school board. The school board has the power of deciding which curriculum provides the values associated with its community, but not beyond the environment of the classroom and into the voluntary confines of the library. The petitioner's motivation to remove these books, were fueled by partisan and political factors. The school board didn't have sufficient evidence to remove these books, other than they disliked the ideas contained in the books. This is a violation of the Constitution. The dissenting judges disagreed with the majority opinion because they believed the Board's actions were justified. Judge Mansfield believed that the undisputed evidence of the motivation for the Board's action was perfectly permissible saying that the books were indecent, in bad taste, and unsuitable for educational purposes. His position was proven because he thought the Board acted…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays