Click on the case name to be taken to a full record of the case in question. These cases do not all involve Pagans, but the laws cited all involve religious disputes. What works for one works for all
Selected U.S. Supreme Court Religion Decisions
Bradfield v. Roberts , 175 U.S. 291 (1899) (Contract was valid between the commissioners of the District of Columbia and the directors of Catholic hospital, over contention that the agreement would result in an appropriation by Congress of money to a religious society, thereby violating the constitutional provision which forbids Congress from passing any law respecting an establishment of religion).
Ponce v. Roman Catholic Apostolic Church , 210 U.S. 296 (1908) (The fact that the municipality may have furnished some of the funds for building or repairing the churches cannot affect the title of the Roman Catholic Church, to whom such funds were thus irrevocably donated, and by whom these temples were erected and dedicated to religious uses).
Quick Bear v. Leupp , 210 U.S. 50 (1908) (We cannot concede the proposition that Indians cannot be allowed to use their own money to educate their children in the schools of their own choice because the government is necessarily undenominational, as it cannot make any law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof).
St. Benedict Order v. Steinhauser , 234 U.S. 640 (1914) (In the present case, there was no infringement of Father Wirth's liberty or right to property. He did not withdraw from the Order. He had agreed, by accepting membership under the complainant's constitution, that his individual earnings and acquisitions, like those of other members, should go into the common fund, and, except as required for the maintenance of the members, should be used in carrying out the charitable objects of the Order).
Arver v. United States , 245 U.S. 366 (1918) (Military Service Act, which exempted from subjection to the draft regular or duly ordained ministers of religion and theological students as well as other members of religious sects as enumerated whose tenets excluded the moral right to engage in war, was constitutional).
Meyer v. Nebraska , 262 U.S. 390 (1923) (No emergency has arisen which renders knowledge by a child of some language other than English so clearly harmful as to justify its inhibition with the consequent infringement of rights long freely enjoyed).
Pierce v. Society of Sister , 268 U.S. 510 (1925) (Oregon statute unreasonably interfered with the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control).
Farrington v. Tokushige , 273 U.S. 284 (1927) (The School Act and the measures adopted thereunder go far beyond mere regulation of privately supported schools, where children obtain instruction deemed valuable by their parents and which is not obviously in conflict with any public interest. They give affirmative direction concerning the intimate and essential details of such schools, intrust their control to public officers, and deny both owners and patrons reasonable choice and discretion in respect of teachers, curriculum and text-books).
U.S. v. Schwimmer , 279 U.S. 644 (1929) (The language used by respondent to describe her attitude in respect of the principles of the Constitution was vague and ambiguous; the burden was upon her to show what she meant and that her pacifism and lack of nationalistic sense did not oppose the principle that it is a duty of citizenship by force of arms when necessary to defend the country against all enemies, and that her opinions and beliefs would not prevent or impair the true faith and allegiance required by the act. She failed to do so).
U.S. v. MacIntosh , 283 U.S. 605 (1931) (It is not within the province of the courts to make bargains with those who seek naturalization. They must accept the grant and take the oath in accordance with the terms fixed by the law, or forego the privilege of citizenship. There is no middle choice. (Denying application for naturalization to Canadian who would fight only in a "morally justified war")).
Hamilton v. Regents of California , 293 U.S. 245 (1934) (The conscientious objector, if his liberties were to be thus extended, might refuse to contribute taxes in furtherance of a war, whether for attack or for defense, or in furtherance of any other end condemned by his conscience as irreligious or immoral. The right of private judgment has never yet been so exalted above the powers and the compulsion of the agencies of government).
Lovell v. City of Griffin , 303 U.S. 444 (1938) (Ordinance prohibiting the practice of distributing, either by hand or otherwise, circulars, handbooks, advertising, or literature of any kind, whether said articles are being delivered free, or whether same are being sold, within the limits of the City of Griffin was invalid on its face)..
Schneider v. State of New Jersey , 308 U.S. 147 (1939) (Conceding that fraudulent appeals may be made in the name of charity and religion, we hold a municipality cannot, for this reason, require all who wish to disseminate ideas to present them first to police authorities for their consideration and approval, with a discretion in the police to say some ideas may, while others may not, be carried to the homes of citizens; some persons may, while others may not, disseminate information from house to house).
Cantwell v. Connecticut , 310 U.S. 296 (1940) (The fundamental law declares the interest of the United States that the free exercise of religion be not prohibited by the states).
Minersville School District v. Gobitis , 310 U.S. 586 (1940) (Compulsory flag saluting in public schools not violative of due process).
Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire , 315 U.S. 568 (1942) (We cannot conceive that cursing a public officer is the exercise of religion in any sense of the term).
Jamison v. State of Texas , 318 U.S. 413 (1943) (Texas handbill ordinance denied to the appellant the freedom of press and of religion guaranteed to her by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Federal Constitution).
Murdock v. Pennsylvania , 319 U.S. 105 (1943) (The First Amendment, which the Fourteenth makes applicable to the states, declares that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press ....' It could hardly be denied that a tax laid specifically on the exercise of those freedoms would be unconstitutional. Yet the license tax imposed by this ordinance is in substance just that).
West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette , 319 U.S. 624 (1943) (overruling Gobitis , above) (We can have intellectual individualism and the rich cultural diversities that we owe to exceptional minds only at the price of occasional eccentricity and abnormal attitudes. When they are so harmless to others or to the State as those we deal with here, the price is not too great. But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order).
United States v. Ballard , 322 U.S. 78 (1944) (The miracles of the New Testament, the Divinity of Christ, life after death, the power of prayer are deep in the religious convictions of many. If one could be sent to jail because a jury in a hostile environment found those teachings false, little indeed would be left of religious freedom).
In re Summers , 325 U.S. 561 (1945) (It is impossible for us to conclude that the insistence of Illinois that an officer who is charged with the administration of justice must take an oath to support the Constitution of Illinois and Illinois' interpretation of that oath to require a willingness to perform military service violates the principles of religious freedom which the Fourteenth Amendment secures against state action, when a like interpretation of a similar oath as to the Federal Constitution bars an alien from national citizenship).
Chatwin v. United States , 326 U.S. 455 (1946) (Reversing convictions of 68 year old polygamist charged with kidnapping a 15 year old girl he impregnated).
Cleveland v. United States , 329 U.S. 14 (1946) (Polygamists violated the Mann Act, which prevents the transportation in interstate commerce of any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose).
Everson v. Board of Education , 330 U.S. 1 (1947) (The 'establishment of religion' clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or to remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion).
Joseph Burstyn, Inc. v. Wilson , 343 U.S. 495 (1952) (Provisions of the New York Education Law which forbid the commercial showing of any motion picture film without a license and authorize denial of a license on a censor's conclusion that a film is "sacrilegious," held void as a prior restraint on freedom of speech and of the press under the First Amendment, made applicable to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment).
Fowler v. Rhode Island , 345 U.S. 67 (1953) (A municipal ordinance which is so construed and applied as to penalize a minister of Jehovah's Witnesses for preaching at a peaceful religious meeting in a public park, although other religious groups could conduct religious services there with impunity, violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the Federal Constitution).
McGowan v. Maryland , 366 U.S. 420 (1961) (Sunday closing law does not violate the Equal Protection or Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment or constitute a law respecting an establishment of religion, within the meaning of the First Amendment, which is made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment).
Torcaso v. Watkins , 367 U.S. 488 (1961) (Maryland test for public office that required belief in God cannot be enforced against appellant, because it unconstitutionally invades his freedom of belief and religion guaranteed by the First Amendment and protected by the Fourteenth Amendment from infringement by the States).
Engel v. Vitale , 370 U.S. 421 (1962) (Because of the prohibition of the First Amendment against the enactment of any law "respecting an establishment of religion," which is made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, state officials may not compose an official state prayer and require that it be recited in the public schools of the State at the beginning of each school day - even if the prayer is denominationally neutral and pupils who wish to do so may remain silent or be excused from the room while the prayer is being recited).
Chamberlin v. Public Instruction Board , 377 U.S. 402 (1964) (Devotional Bible reading required by statute, and reciting prayers, in Florida public schools are unconstitutional).
United States v. Seeger , 380 U.S. 163 (1965) (The test of religious belief within the meaning of the conscientious objector exemption is whether it is a sincere and meaningful belief occupying in the life of its possessor a place parallel to that filled by the God of those admittedly qualified for the exemption).
Epperson v. Arkansas , 393 U.S. 97 (1968) (Statute that makes it unlawful for a teacher in any state-supported school or university to teach or to use a textbook that teaches evolution violates the Fourteenth Amendment, which embraces the First Amendment's prohibition of state laws respecting an establishment of religion).
Lemon v. Kurtzman , 403 US 602 (1971) (Pennsylvainia statutes authorizing teacher pay increases are unconstitutional under the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment, as the cumulative impact of the entire relationship arising under the statutes involves excessive entanglement between government and religion).
Cruz v. Beto , 405 U.S. 319 (1972) (Texas has discriminated against petitioner by denying him a reasonable opportunity to pursue his Buddhist faith comparable to that offered other prisoners adhering to conventional religious precepts).
Wooley v. Maynard , 430 U.S. 705 (1977) (New Hampshire statutes required that noncommercial motor vehicles bear license plates embossed with the state motto, "Live Free or Die," and made it a misdemeanor to obscure the motto. The State may not constitutionally require an individual to participate in the dissemination of an ideological message by displaying it on his private property in a manner and for the express purpose that it be observed and read by the public).
McDaniel v. Paty , 435 U.S. 618 (1978) (Tennessee constitutional provision barring ministers of the Gospel, or priests of any denomination whatever from public office violates appellant's First Amendment right to the free exercise of his religion made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, because it conditions his right to the free exercise of his religion on the surrender of his right to seek office).
Stone v. Graham , 449 U.S. 39 (1980) (A Kentucky statute requiring the posting of a copy of the Ten Commandments, purchased with private contributions, on the wall of each public school classroom in the State has no secular legislative purpose, and therefore is unconstitutional as violating the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment).
United States v. Lee , 455 U.S. 252 (1982) (The imposition of social security taxes is not unconstitutional as applied to such persons as appellee who object on religious grounds to receipt of public insurance benefits and to payment of taxes to support public insurance funds).
Marsh v. Chambers , 463 U.S. 783 (1983) (The Nebraska Legislature's chaplaincy practice does not violate the Establishment Clause).
Lynch v. Donnelly , 465 U.S. 668 (1984) (Annual Christmas display in a park owned by a nonprofit organization did not violate the Establishment Clause).
Wallace v. Jaffree , 472 U.S. 38 (1985) (Alabama Statute authorizing a 1-minute period of silence in all public schools "for meditation or voluntary prayer" was a law respecting the establishment of religion and thus violates the First Amendment).
Bowen v. Roy , 476 U.S. 693 (1986) (Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment does not compel the Government to accommodate a religiously based objection to the statutory requirements that a Social Security number be provided by an applicant seeking to receive certain welfare benefits and that the States use these numbers in administering the benefit programs).
Edwards v. Aguillard , 482 U.S. 578 (1987) (Louisiana's "Creationism Act" that forbids the teaching of the theory of evolution in public elementary and secondary schools unless accompanied by instruction in the theory of "creation science" is facially invalid as violative of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, because it lacks a clear secular purpose).
Alleghney County v. ACLU , 492 U.S. 573 (1989) (Respondents, the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and seven local residents, filed suit seeking permanently to enjoin the county from displaying a nativity and the city from displaying a menorah on the ground that the displays violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, made applicable to state governments by the Fourteenth Amendment).