*Please note: due to the format of the event, we will be unable to broadcast through teleconferencing. We appreciate your understanding.*
June 14, 2023 (Flag Day) will mark the 80th anniversary of West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, one of the most famous, significant U.S. Supreme Court decisions in history.
In Barnette, the Supreme Court decided, and Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote the Court’s opinion explaining, that it is unconstitutional for government to compel schoolchildren to salute and to pledge allegiance to the American flag.
John Q. Barrett, professor of law at St. John’s University and Elizabeth S. Lenna Fellow and a board member at the Robert H. Jackson Center, will lead a community discussion on Barnette as a historical matter, and what it might mean for how we think about collisions between laws and rules that apply to all and individuals who wish to differ.
This is about the American flag.
It’s about Colin Kaepernick.
It’s about bakers, website designers, and other commercial service-providers who choose based on religious beliefs not to provide services to same-sex weddings. (The Supreme Court will decide such a case, possibly reshaping Barnette, in the next few weeks.)
It’s about racism and sexism and our anti-discrimination laws.
It’s about all of us constituting a country together while each of us is a person with thoughts, beliefs, conscience, and moral rights.
All people, from school kids to seniors, are invited to come to the Robert H. Jackson Center to listen, to talk, and to be what they are alongside and with everyone else.
The Robert H. Jackson Center is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization that is dedicated to presenting accurate and balanced information about complex issues. The opinions expressed by various guest speakers, panelists, and authors do not necessarily reflect the views of the Center, its Board, and supporters.
The Center fulfills its educational mission by welcoming diverse views and by providing a forum to explore a wide range of perspectives on often controversial legal and public policy issues. While we make an effort to ensure the information we provide is accurate and balanced, we welcome your comments, suggestions, or correction of any factual errors.
Since 2001, the Robert H. Jackson Center has preserved the values embodied in the life and works of Robert H. Jackson, who served as U.S. Solicitor General, U.S. Attorney General, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, and Chief U.S. Prosecutor of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. Through programs, presentations, exhibits, media, internships, and scholarship, the Center seeks to demonstrate to current and future generations the relevance and applicability of Justice Jackson’s ideas and writings. The Center provides educational content on the United States Constitution and Supreme Court, civil rights, the legacy of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and international human rights, and the rule of law. During his illustrious career, Justice Jackson addressed these subjects, and the Center recognizes his thinking remains relevant today.
