1940's Law and Justice | West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

Supreme Court decision

By: Robert Jackson (majority), Felix Frankfurter (dissent)

Date: June 14, 1943

Source: West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943). Reprinted in Kutler, Stanley, ed. The Supreme Court and the Constitution: Readings in American Constitutional History, 3d ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 1984, 511–519.

About the Authors: Robert Jackson (1892–1954) was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1941. Like several Supreme Court justices in the twentieth century, Jackson came to the bench after being attorney general. He was a strong supporter of First Amendment rights.

Before his Supreme Court Appointment in 1939 Felix Frankfurter (1882–1965) was a Harvard Law professor who advised President Roosevelt (served 1933–1945). His strong nationalism appears in many of the opinions he wrote while on the bench.

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