West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette

West Virginia's Board of Education (defendant) required all public school students and teachers to salute the flag and recite the pledge, treating refusal as insubordination punishable by expulsion, with expelled children then deemed unlawfully absent and their parents subject to prosecution. Barnette and other Jehovah's Witnesses (plaintiffs), whose faith forbade swearing allegiance to symbols, sued in federal court to enjoin enforcement; the district court agreed and enjoined the statute, and the Board appealed.

Whether a state school board resolution requiring all public school students and teachers to salute the flag violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.