This Day in History: 1942-06-22

Pledge of Allegiance  to the US flag is adopted by US Congress on this day in 1942.  The pledge had been composed in 1887, and in 1940, the US Supreme Court, in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, ruled that students in public schools, including Jehovah’s Witnesses who opposed it, could be compelled to swear the Pledge. This was overturned in 1943 in the  West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette case.  Writing for the majority, Justice Robert H. Jackson said:

“If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. If there are any circumstances which permit an exception, they do not now occur to us.”