Weiss v. District Board | |
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Court | Wisconsin Supreme Court |
Full case name | State ex rel. Weiss et al. v. District Board of School District No. Eight |
Decided | March 18, 1890 |
Case history | |
Appealed from | Wisconsin's 12th circuit |
Court membership | |
Judge(s) sitting |
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Case opinions | |
Readings from the Bible in public schools constitutes sectarian instruction, in violation of Art. X, Sec. 3, and Art. I, Sec. 18, of the Constitution of Wisconsin | |
Decision by | Lyon |
Concurrence | Cassoday, Orton |
Dissent | none |
The Edgerton Bible Case (formally State ex rel. Weiss v. District Board of School District No. Eight, 76 Wis. 177) was an important court case involving religious instruction in public schools in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The case was unanimously decided in favor of the appellants and declared that the use of the King James Bible in Edgerton, Wisconsin, public schools was unconstitutional sectarian education.
In the early days of Edgerton, Wisconsin, it was common practice for public school teachers to read aloud to their students from the King James Bible. In 1886, Roman Catholic parents protested about that to the school board, citing their belief that the Douay version of the Bible was the only correct translation for their children. [1]
After failing to convince the school board to end the practice, the parents—Frederick Weiss,W. H. Morrissey,Thomas Mooney,James McBride,J. C. Burns, and John Corbett—took their case to court. In November 1888, the circuit court judge, John R. Bennett, decided that the readings were not sectarian because both translations were of the same work. The parents then appealed the decision to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
In State ex rel Weiss v. District Board 76 Wis. 177 (1890), 3, otherwise known as the Edgerton Bible Case, the judges overruled the circuit court's decision by concluding that it illegally united the functions of church and state. [2]
In 1963, the United States Supreme Court banned government-sponsored compulsory prayer from public schools (see Abington School District v. Schempp ), and Justice William Brennan Jr. cited the Edgerton Bible Case in his decision. [1] [3]
Edgerton is a city in Rock County and partly in Dane County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 5,945 at the 2020 census. Of this, 5,799 were in Rock County, and 146 were in Dane County. Known locally as "Tobacco City U.S.A.," because of the importance of tobacco growing in the region, Edgerton continues to be a center for the declining tobacco industry in the area.
Abington School District v. Schempp, 374 U.S. 203 (1963), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court decided 8–1 in favor of the respondent, Edward Schempp, on behalf of his son Ellery Schempp, and declared that school-sponsored Bible reading and the recitation of the Lord's Prayer in public schools in the United States was unconstitutional.
Gideons International is an Evangelical Christian association for men founded in 1899 in Janesville, Wisconsin. The Gideons' primary activity, along with their wives in the Auxiliary, is "encouraging each other to do the work of the Lord, focusing on who they are before God, and strengthening the power of their personal testimony for the Lord Jesus Christ". They are most recognized for distributing copies of Scripture free of charge, paid for by freewill offerings from local churches and from members themselves. This Bible distribution is a worldwide enterprise taking place in around 200 countries, territories and possessions. The association's members focus on distributing complete Bibles, New Testaments, or portions thereof. These copies are printed in over 108 languages. The association is most widely known for its Bibles placed in lodging rooms. The Gideons also distribute to hospitals and other medical offices, schools and colleges, military bases, as well as jails and prisons. The association was named after the Biblical figure Gideon depicted in the Book of Judges.
Diane Schwerm Sykes is an American jurist and lawyer who serves as the chief judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. She served as a justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court from 1999 to 2004.
Maher v Town Council of Portland is a Canadian constitutional law court decision dealing with the constitutional guarantees for denominational schools set out in section 93 of the Constitution Act, 1867. The issue was whether the Common Schools Act, enacted by the Province of New Brunswick in 1871, infringed the guarantee of denominational schools set out in section 93(1).
John Whitcome Reynolds Jr. was the 36th governor of Wisconsin (1963–1965) and served 21 years as a United States district judge in the Eastern District of Wisconsin (1965–1986). A Democrat, he previously served as the 34th attorney general of Wisconsin (1959–1963).
Vashti Cromwell McCollum was the plaintiff in the landmark 1948 Supreme Court case McCollum v. Board of Education, which struck down religious education in public schools. The defendant in the case was the public school district of Champaign, Illinois; instructors chosen by three religious faiths had taught religion classes within the district's schools.
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Lynn S. Adelman is an American lawyer, judge, and former politician. He has served as a United States district judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, since December 1997. Earlier in his career, he served 20 years in the Wisconsin State Senate, representing southwest Milwaukee County and neighboring municipalities.
William Penn Lyon was an American lawyer, politician, and judge who served as the 7th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the 12th Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly. He also served as a Union Army officer in the American Civil War.
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John Bradley Winslow was an American lawyer and jurist. He was the 10th Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Supreme Court, serving from 1908 until his death in 1920. Before being appointed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, Winslow served as a Wisconsin circuit court judge for seven years and was city attorney of Racine, Wisconsin, from 1879 to 1883.
School prayer in the United States if organized by the school is largely banned from public elementary, middle and high schools by a series of Supreme Court decisions since 1962. Students may pray privately, and join religious clubs in after-school hours. Public schools are those operated by government agencies, such as local school districts. They are banned from conducting religious observances such as prayer. Private and parochial schools are not covered by these rulings, nor are colleges and universities. Elementary and secondary schools are covered because students are required to attend, and are considered more at risk from official pressure than are older students and adults. The Constitutional basis for this prohibition is the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, which requires that:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ...
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Redistricting in Wisconsin is the process by which boundaries are redrawn for municipal wards, Wisconsin State Assembly districts, Wisconsin State Senate districts, and Wisconsin's congressional districts. Redistricting occurs—as in other U.S. states—once every decade, usually in the year after the decennial United States census. According to the Wisconsin Constitution, redistricting in Wisconsin follows the regular legislative process, it must be passed by both houses of the Wisconsin Legislature and signed by the Governor of Wisconsin—unless the Legislature has sufficient votes to override a gubernatorial veto. Due to political gridlock, however, it has become common for Wisconsin redistricting to be conducted by courts. The 1982, 1992, and 2002 legislative maps were each created by panels of United States federal judges.
The Thirty-Ninth Wisconsin Legislature convened from January 9, 1889, to April 19, 1889, in regular session.