Wisconsin v.

Yoder Supreme Court Case 1972

One of the fundamental provisions of the United States Constitution throughout the nation's history
has been its support for basic freedoms and liberties. Free practice of religion is specifically
extended to citizens in the Constitution's First Amendment, and when a particular mandate
contradicted the religious traditions of the Amish, free practice prevailed in the Wisconsin v. Yoder
Supreme Court case in 1972. This was one of the landmark Supreme Court cases in American
history.
Background of Landmark Supreme Court Case Wisconsin v. Yoder, 1972
Three students who had attended school until the end of eighth grade in New Glarus, Wisconsin
were removed from school before ninth grade by their parents, because, according the Amish
traditions of the students' families, schooling was no longer necessary after junior high school, and
children were to learn traditional Amish ways at home.
However, there was a Wisconsin law in place at the time that required children to remain in school
until at least age 16. Keeping their children in school contradicted the religious practice and cultural
traditions of the three's parents, so a situation where religion and state law were combating one
another was formed.
Wisconsin v. Yoder Supreme Court Case Proceedings and Ruling in 1972
One of the fathers (Jonas Yoder) of one of the students who stopped attending school before age 16
represented the Amish community and its traditions in the court case which ensued. The Supreme
Court, which determines cases based on constitutionality, ruled in a unanimous decision that
Wisconsin's compulsory education law was overruled by the free exercise of religion clause in the
First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which states that federal and state mandates
cannot get in the way of any citizen's free practice of religion.
Significance of Wisconsin v. Yoder
The ruling in this case upheld the free practice of religion clause in the First Amendment. Up until
that point, some had been unfairly compelled to break religious practice and tradition for state and
federal purposes, and this case clearly stated the sovereignty of free practice over that of federal
and state mandates. This case is a landmark First Amendment case that upheld free practice of
religion.
This was one of the landmark Supreme Court cases in the history of the United States, which
emphasized the importance of a constitutional liberty that had been previously undermined and
overlooked. Other important cases on the same subject of free exercise are Sherbert v. Verner
(1963), and Employment Division v. Smith (1990), which both established the bounds of the freedom
of religious practice, and also the limits of the government's intervention in religious affairs.