Starting in 1940 with the case of Minersville School District v. Gobitis, suits have challenged whether schools may force students to pledge their allegiance to the U.S. flag.
On this date (Dec. 28) in 1945, Congress adopted the Pledge into the United States Flag Code. In honor of the anniversary, Follow Our Courts takes a look at this legal history.
The 1940 ruling compelled children to say the Pledge, and was overturned by a 1943 ruling. Jehovah’s Witnesses had presented significant challenges to the mandatory practice in the 1930s and ’40s, describing it as a form of idolatry that went against their religious beliefs.
In 1954 President Dwight Eisenhower
