free exercise 1 st amendment: "congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of...
TRANSCRIPT
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Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 1905Wisconsin v. Yoder, 1972
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Free Exercise
• 1st Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
• In other words, the USA cannot have an official religion or prevent someone from practicing their religion.
• The 14th Amendment also makes this clause binding on the states.
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Free Exercise (cont.)
• Beliefs do not necessarily need to be stated in traditional terms; examples today include Scientology, Neo-Pagan/New Age faiths, and various others.
• Religion is broadly defined, primarily due to the sheer number of faiths and denominations and because of the way they change over time.
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Limits to Free Exercise
• Employers may not discriminate against other religions
• Religious expression may not pose a threat or infringe upon the rights of other citizens– No polygamy, ritual sacrifice of humans, basically
any violence towards oneself or another for religious purposes…
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Jacobson v. Massachussetts Background
• In 1902, there was an outbreak of smallpox in Cambridge.
• In response, a MA statute allowed the city to make vaccinations required for all adults to prevent the spread of the disease.
• The fine for refusing the vaccine was $5 (worth about $100 dollars today)
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Jacobson v. Massachusetts Background
• 1905- A citizen challenged the government’s right to make vaccinations mandatory after a smallpox outbreak in 1902.
• Jacobson claimed he’d had a bad reaction to the vaccine and appealed to the Supreme Court.
• Question: Does a mandatory vaccination law violate the Fourteenth Amendment right to liberty?
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Decision
• The Supreme Court held that the law was an exercise of the state’s right to protect its citizens from a public health threat.
• Justice Harlan: “Liberty is not “an absolute right in each person to be, in all times and in all circumstances, wholly free from restraint.”
• However, the law does not apply to those who can prove that their health/life will be legitimately jeopardized by vaccination.
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Consequences of the Decision
• The state may be justified in restricting individual liberty “under the pressure of great dangers” to “the safety of the general public.”
• Zucht v. King, 1922: The Supreme Court upheld a city ordinance that required all students to have a smallpox vaccination in order to attend any public or private school.
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Consequences of the Decision (cont.)
• Buck v Bell, 1927: The US Supreme Court upheld a Virginia law that authorized the involuntary sterilization of “feeble minded” persons in state institutions. – Jacobson v. Massachusetts was cited for this case
in order to support the idea that involuntary sterilization of mentally unfit people is allowable for the benefit of the public.
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Consequences of the Decision (Cont.)
• Today, it is likely that laws requiring vaccinations would be upheld if (1) the infectious disease still existed in the population and (2) the vaccine is safe and FDA approved.
• In North Carolina, all students are required to have vaccinations for tetanus, diptheria, and pertussis (TDAP), polio, measles, etc.
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Wisconsin v. Yoder Background
• A Wisconsin law required all children under 16 to attend public school. Most Amish groups discontinue formal education by age 13 or 14.
• American public high schools strive to teach a certain level of accomplishment and self-determination that contrasts with Amish values, which stress humility and manual labor.
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Wisconsin v. Yoder Background, Cont.
• Three Amish families challenged the law by claiming it violated their freedom of religion.
• For refusing to obey the law, the families were each fined $5.
• The Amish tend to “turn the other cheek” and the families paid the fine, but a Lutheran minister who heard of their struggle provided them with legal counsel and the case went to the Supreme Court.
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Decision
• The Wisconsin Supreme Court and the United States Supreme Court both voted in favor of Yoder.
• The Court ruled that the law violated the families’ right to free exercise.
• Chief Justice Warren E. Burger: the values of secondary school were "in sharp conflict with the fundamental mode of life mandated by the Amish religion."
• The vote was unanimous (7-0) (Both Rehnquist and Powell were absent).
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Consequences of the Decision
• Amish communities are generally exempt from compulsory education laws on religious grounds.
• The case seems to have had little effect on anyone besides the Amish; most other religious groups are not exempt from compulsory education. Groups/parents in other states have tried but few have succeeded.
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Consequences of the Decision
• Amish children, upon turning 16, go through a Rumspringa (run around) in which they are allowed to experience life outside their community in the modern world to determine where they want to spend the rest of their lives.
• However, because of their lack of high school education, their options are strictly limited to those within their communities.
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Sources•Adler, Adam. “Wisconsin v. Yoder: Maximizing Religious Choice.” Stanford University. 2008. Web. 19 Mar. 2013.
•http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgibin/drupal_ual/sites/default/files/common/docs/ihum_fall08_winner.pdf
•Annas, George J.; Glantz, Leonard H.; Mariner, Wendy K. “Jacobson v Massachusetts: It’s Not Your Great-Great-Grandfather’s Public Health Law.” American Journal of Public Health. Apr. 2005. Web. 18 Mar 2013. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1449224/
•"First Amendment (United States Constitution) : Related Rights." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica, n.d. Web. 17 Mar. 2013. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/208044/First-Amendment
•JACOBSON v. MASSACHUSETTS. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1901-1939/1904/1904_70>.
•Mullally, Claire. "Free Exercise Clause Overview." First Amendment Center. First Amendment Center, 16 Sept. 2011. Web. 21 Mar. 2013. <http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/free-exercise-clause>.
•WISCONSIN v. YODER. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. http://www.oyez.org/cases/1970-1979/1971/1971_70_110