Opinion ID: 109509
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Parental Rights

Text: In Meyer v. Nebraska, 262 U. S. 390, the Court held that the liberty protected by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment includes the right to acquire useful knowledge, to marry, establish a home and bring up children, id., at 399, and, concomitantly, the right to send one's children to a private school that offers specialized trainingin that case, instruction in the German language. In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, 268 U. S. 510, the Court applied the doctrine of Meyer v. Nebraska ,  id., at 534, to hold unconstitutional an Oregon law requiring the parent, guardian, or other person having custody of a child between 8 and 16 years of age to send that child to public school on pain of criminal liability. The Court thought it entirely plain that the [statute] unreasonably interferes with the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control. Id., at 534-535. In Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U. S. 205, the Court stressed the limited scope of Pierce, pointing out that it lent no support to the contention that parents may replace state educational requirements with their own idiosyncratic views of what knowledge a child needs to be a productive and happy member of society but rather held simply that while a State may posit [educational] standards, it may not pre-empt the educational process by requiring children to attend public schools. Id., at 239 (WHITE, J., concurring). And in Norwood v. Harrison, 413 U. S. 455, the Court once again stressed the limited scope of Pierce, id., at 461, which simply affirmed the right of private schools to exist and to operate . . . . Id., at 462. It is clear that the present application of § 1981 infringes no parental right recognized in Meyer, Pierce, Yoder, or Norwood. No challenge is made to the petitioner schools' right to operate or the right of parents to send their children to a particular private school rather than a public school. Nor do these cases involve a challenge to the subject matter which is taught at any private school. Thus, the Fairfax-Brewster School and Bobbe's School and members of the intervenor association remain presumptively free to inculcate whatever values and standards they deem desirable. Meyer and its progeny entitle them to no more.