Wisconsin v. Yoder
- Decided
- May 15, 1972
- Docket
- 70-110
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,250 timesOverruled (not yet verified)Possible negative treatment: overruled, overruled in part, abrogated in part, overruled on other grounds (not yet verified) · GENERAL CONFERENCE CORP. v. McGill
What later courts said
- recognizing that parent’s power may be subject to limitation if court determines that parental decision has potential for significant social burden — In Re the Adoption of a Child by W.P. (2000)
- holding that Amish children would not be harmed by receiving an Amish education instead of attending public high school — Williams v. Williams (1997)
- holding that compulsory high school attendance interfered with Amish parents’ fundamental rights to raise their children according to the dictates of their religion — In the Matter of Estate of Thurgood (2006)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Me. Chief Justice Buegee delivered the opinion of the Court.
On petition of the State of Wisconsin, we granted the writ of certiorari in this case to review a decision of the Wisconsin Supreme Court holding that respondents’ convictions of violating the State’s compulsory school-attendance law were invalid under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment. For the reasons hereafter stated we affirm the judgment of the Supreme Court of Wisconsin.
Respondents Jonas Yoder and Wallace Miller are members of the Old Order Amish religion, and respondent Adin Yutzy is a member of the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church. They and their families are residents of Green County, Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s compulsory school-attendance law required them to cause their children to attend public or private school until reaching age 16 but the respondents declined to send their children, ages 14 and 15, to public school after they completed the eighth grade.[1] The children were not enrolled in any private school, or within any recognized exception to the compulsory-attendance law,[2] and they are conceded to be subject to the Wisconsin statute.
Statutes cited
Cite this
Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972)Read the full opinion
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