Opinion ID: 1779062
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Wisconsin v. Yoder

Text: ś 51. The test for violation of the Free Exercise Clause was next refined in a case involving three families from Green County, Wisconsin, all members of the Amish faith who, for religious reasons, refused to comply with a Wisconsin statute which required them to send their children to public high school. ś 52. In Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 92 S.Ct. 1526, 32 L.Ed.2d 15 (1972), the United States Supreme Court recognized that a State has a high responsibility for educating its citizens, and therefore could certainly impose reasonable regulations for the control and duration of basic education. 406 U.S. at 213, 92 S.Ct. 1526. However, the Yoder Court recognized that a State's interest in universal education, however highly we rank it, is not totally free from a balancing process when it impinges on fundamental rights and interests, such as those specifically protected by the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, and the traditional interest[ [11] ] of parents with respect to the religious upbringing of their children. . . . Id. at 214, 92 S.Ct. 1526. ś 53. In deciding the case in favor of the Amish families, the Court set as a requirement to overcome the State's interest in enforcing laws not specifically aimed at religion, a finding that the refusal be rooted in religious belief. Id. at 216, 92 S.Ct. 1526. The Court conducted an extended evaluation of the quality of the Amish families' claim that sending their children to public high school would violate their religious beliefs.