Engel v. Vitale
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Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421 (1962) was the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibited prayer in public schools. Many consider this decision to have been one of the most significant events in modern American history. Legal scholars in addition to conservatives criticized this activist ruling.
For example, Erwin Griswold, dean of the liberal Harvard Law School, said in a major speech that the Court had no authority to prohibit prayer in public school:[1]
- Congress had made no law [as required by the text of the First Amendment, and] those who wrote the 'establishment of religion' clause might be rather perplexed by the use which has been made of it in 1962. ... [I]t was unfortunate that the Court decided the case, one way or the other [because] there are some matters which are essentially local in nature ... to be worked out by the people themselves in their own communities. ... In a country which has a great tradition of tolerance, is it not important that minorities, who have benefited so greatly from that tolerance, should be tolerant, too?
Sources:
- ↑ Washington Star (Mar. 3, 1963)