West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

One of the ‘flag salute’ Supreme Court cases of 1943 dealing with mandatory recitation of the pledge of allegiance in public school. Barnette issued a legal challenge to a West Virginia statute requiring all public-school children to salute the flag. A Jehovah's Witness, he argued that his child's First Amendment freedom of religion was being denied, since reciting the pledge was against his religious principles. The Court invalidated the law because it violated First Amendment rights to freedom of religion, speech, and thought.