Which U.S. Supreme Court case ruled that public school students cannot be forced to salute the flag?

West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette ruled that public schools could not force students to salute the flag.

The 1943 case involved Marie and Gathie Barnett, Jehovah’s Witnesses whose religious beliefs led them to refuse both the flag salute and the Pledge of Allegiance. West Virginia regulations treated refusal as insubordination: students could be expelled, and their parents could face fines or jail. The family challenged the policy as a violation of constitutional freedoms.

In a 6–3 decision, the Supreme Court held that the First Amendment protected students from compelled patriotic expression. Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote that public officials could not prescribe what citizens must say or believe. The ruling treated the salute as a form of expressive conduct, not merely a routine classroom procedure.

Barnette is often confused with Minersville School District v. Gobitis, the 1940 decision it overturned. Gobitis had upheld compulsory flag salutes, but public backlash and later constitutional reasoning led the Court to reverse course three years later. Engel v. Vitale concerned prayer in public schools, while Tinker v. Des Moines concerned student protest symbols.