Meyer v. Nebraska

As Meyer v. Nebraska (Reference 262 U.S. 390 ), a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States of 1923 is referred to. It was a decision from the area of ​​school law. The Supreme Court ruled that a regulation that prohibits education in a modern, but non-English language, violates the 14th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States.

Facts

The plaintiff Robert T. Meyer was declared by the District Court of Hamilton County guilty to have his student Raymond Parpart taught as a teacher at Zion Parochial School in German on May 25, 1920. This violated the so-called Siman - law of the Nebraska State on 9 April 1919 during which the instruction was banned in any other than the English language to private, public or parochial schools. By this law, the English language and the integration of children from immigrant families should officially be promoted, but it was also an expression of promoted by the First World War anti-German sentiment.

The Supreme Court of Nebraska upheld the sentence, so that Meyer called the Supreme Court of the United States.

The decision

In written by James C. McReynolds decision states that, even if the state "must do much ... to enhance the quality of life of its citizens, " the controversial law beyond the limits of the state contract and Meyer violated his rights. The freedom that mediated by the rule of law, " no doubt includes not only protection from physical abuse but also the right of every person to enter into contracts, to deal with all that makes life worth living, to become knowledgeable appropriating to get married, build a family, to live according to his religion, and generally to exercise all the rights which are indispensable for leading a happy life. "

The Justice Holmes and Sutherland deciding not followed. The rationale is different in both the case at Bartels v. Iowa.

Effects

Meyer v. Nebraska and Pierce v. Society of Sisters ( 1925) are considered the first cases in which the Supreme Court has applied the rule of law to substantiate the rights of citizens. Justice Kennedy believed that the decision would probably justified differently today in two cases: " the cases Pierce and Meyer Would decided today, you would probably support the decision to the 1st Amendment, which entails the right to freedom of expression and freedom of religion. "

The case law of the Supreme Court today makes it impossible to use the rule of law, if a more specific provision - such as the 1st Amendment to the Constitution - is applicable.

Trivia

In the television series The West Wing, the case is cited as an example of excessive activism of the Supreme Court to protect citizens rights which are not expressly written in the Constitution.