Fellowship Baptist Church v. Benton
United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit
815 F.2d 485 (1987)
- Written by Alexander Hager-DeMyer, JD
Facts
The State of Iowa enacted a series of compulsory school laws that included specific requirements for education outside the public school system. Private-school principals were required to report student attendance, the names of books used in school, and teachers’ names. Parents and guardians opting out of public school prior to the eighth grade had to send children to a private school with certified teachers. Several officials, teachers, parents, and students at two fundamentalist Baptist church schools (plaintiffs) filed suit in federal district court against Robert Benton, an education official, and the state (defendants) over these requirements, claiming that they violated the individuals’ First Amendment right to free exercise of religion. The church schools advocated for additional standardized testing in place of teacher certification as a more reliable way to guarantee the quality of education received. The district court upheld the requirements of the compulsory school laws, and the case was appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Larson, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
