Worksheet

Eight to One, Then Six to Three: The Flag Salute Cases

Grade 8 civics: a graph and a table of real Supreme Court votes show how judicial review and two landmark cases reshaped First Amendment rights.

Grade 8Social StudiesInteractive · Printable

Aligned toCIV.8.2

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1 C3 Framework standard
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10 questions
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Format: Interactive · Printable
Grade: Grade 8
Subject: Social Studies
Question types: Fill in the blank, Multiple choice, Circle the answer, Sorting, Short answer

About this worksheet

What students practice

Students use vote data to explain how the Supreme Court overruled its own reading of the First Amendment.
Students apply a landmark ruling to a new case and weigh the arguments on each side.

How to use

Read the passage together and study the graph and table before students answer. Pairs can compare their claims for the last question.

Curriculum

C3 Framework standard covered

CIV.8.2

Explain the rights in the Bill of Rights and how the Supreme Court interprets them through judicial review and landmark cases.

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Eight to One, Then Six to Three: The Flag Salute Cases

Use the justices' votes to see how the Supreme Court changed its reading of the First Amendment.

Two cases, three years apart

Read the passage and study the graph. Then answer the questions.

Must a Student Salute the Flag?

1The First Amendment begins, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech." At first these words limited only the national government. After the Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 barred states from taking away liberty without due process of law, the Supreme Court began applying the Bill of Rights to the states. In 1925 it said freedom of speech was protected from state governments too.

2Courts decide what the Constitution means only when real people bring a case. The Court's power to judge whether a law or government action fits the Constitution is called judicial review. The majority's opinion becomes a precedent that lower courts follow. A justice who disagrees may write a dissent explaining why.

3By the 1930s, many public schools began each day with students saluting the flag and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Jehovah's Witnesses believed that saluting a flag broke a biblical command against bowing down to images. In 1935 a school district in Minersville, Pennsylvania, expelled two Witness children who refused to salute.

4In Minersville School District v. Gobitis (1940), the Court sided with the school district. Justice Felix Frankfurter wrote that national unity is the basis of national security and that elected school boards, not judges, should decide how to teach loyalty. Justice Harlan Fiske Stone dissented: he argued that the state may not force children to declare a belief they do not hold. In the months after the ruling, Witnesses in many towns faced threats and mob attacks, and more Witness children were expelled.

5In 1942 the West Virginia Board of Education ordered every public school student to salute the flag. Students who refused could be expelled, and their parents could be prosecuted. Witness families went to court. On June 14, 1943, Flag Day, in the middle of World War II, the Court decided West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette and overruled Gobitis. Justice Robert Jackson wrote that "no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion." Schools could still teach about the flag and the nation, but they could not force students to salute. Frankfurter dissented.

Which action in the passage is an example of judicial review?

A. The Court decides whether the board's order fits the Constitution.
B. A Pennsylvania school district expels two students in 1935.
C. Witness families take the board's order to court.
D. The West Virginia board orders students to salute the flag.

The First Amendment begins "Congress shall make no law." Use paragraph 1. Why could it limit a state school board in 1943?

A. State school boards were part of Congress at that time.
B. The Court read the Fourteenth Amendment to apply it to states.
C. Congress passed a law in 1942 about saluting the flag.
D. The First Amendment was rewritten in 1925 to name the states.

Use the graph. Write each number. In 1943, justices sided with the school board, which was fewer than in 1940.

Sort each argument from the passage. Does it support the school board's rule, or the students who refused?

National unity is the basis of national security.No official can set what people must believe about the nation.Elected boards, not judges, should decide how to teach loyalty.The state may not force children to declare a belief they do not hold.Schools can teach about the flag without forcing a salute.

Supports the school board	Supports the students

How each justice voted

Use the table, the graph and the passage.

Justices' Votes in Gobitis (1940) and Barnette (1943)
Justice	1940 vote	1943 vote
Charles Evans Hughes	School board	Retired
James McReynolds	School board	Retired
Harlan Fiske Stone	Students	Students
Hugo Black	School board	Students
William O. Douglas	School board	Students
Frank Murphy	School board	Students
Felix Frankfurter	School board	School board
Owen Roberts	School board	School board
Stanley Reed	School board	School board
Robert Jackson	Not yet on Court	Students
Wiley Rutledge	Not yet on Court	Students

Use the table. Circle each justice who voted on different sides in the two cases.

StoneBlackDouglasMurphyFrankfurterReedJackson

Which statement best explains why the result changed from 1940 to 1943?

A. Most of the 1940 justices switched to the other side.
B. Congress passed a law that overruled the 1940 decision.
C. The two new justices joined the school board's side.
D. Some justices changed their minds, and new justices joined them.

Stone was the lone dissenter in 1940, but his view won in 1943. What does this suggest about dissents?

A. A dissent becomes law once a justice is made Chief Justice.
B. A dissent is a precedent that lower courts are bound to follow.
C. A dissent can shape how the Court rules in a later case.
D. A dissent is kept secret until the Court decides the case again.

Suppose that in 1950 a town required every resident to salute the flag before speaking at a town meeting, and a resident refused. Based on Barnette, how would a court most likely rule?

A. The rule stands, since Barnette was about students, not adults.
B. The rule cannot be enforced, since it forces a person to show a belief.
C. The rule cannot be enforced, since the Pledge is a religious prayer.
D. The rule stands, since towns are not bound by the Bill of Rights.

Barnette was decided on Flag Day in the middle of World War II. Why might a historian find this timing important?

A. The Court protected a right to refuse a patriotic ritual during a war.
B. The Court announced its decisions on holidays to draw attention.
C. The war had ended, so the salute no longer mattered to schools.
D. The Court ruled against the students to show wartime loyalty.

10.

Which opinion gives the better reading of the First Amendment: Frankfurter's in 1940 or Jackson's in 1943? Make a claim, use at least two pieces of evidence from the passage, the graph or the table, and explain your reasoning.