Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education
Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education was a landmark Supreme Court case decided in 1948 that addressed the intersection of government and religion in public schools. The case centered around a released-time program in Illinois, where religious instructors from Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish traditions taught religious classes within public school buildings. The program allowed students who opted not to participate in religious instruction to engage in supervised alternative activities. Ultimately, the Supreme Court ruled by an 8-1 vote that the program was unconstitutional, emphasizing that the use of public school facilities for religious education constituted an excessive endorsement of religion. This decision built upon earlier precedents, notably Everson v. Board of Education, which advocated for a strict separation of church and state. Dissenting opinions expressed concern about a narrow interpretation of the establishment clause, suggesting that incidental support for religion should be permissible. The ruling shaped future discussions on the role of religion in public education, highlighting the ongoing debate about the boundaries of religious expression within government spaces.
Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Education
Date: March 8, 1948
Citation: 333 U.S. 203
Issue: Establishment of religion
Significance: The Supreme Court disallowed a released-time religious instruction program in public schools, helping define the meaning of the First Amendment’s establishment of religion clause.
By an 8-1 vote, the Supreme Court found unconstitutional a released-time religious education program in the Illinois public schools. Under the Illinois program, Protestant, Roman Catholic, and Jewish instructors not paid with public funds but approved by the superintendent of schools came into the schools to teach thirty- to forty-five-minute religious training programs and kept records of those attending. Any student not wishing to participate could participate in supervised alternative activities elsewhere in the building. In his opinion for the Court, Justice Hugo L. Black found the use of the school buildings to be excessive public support for religion under his earlier opinion in Everson v. Board of Education of Ewing Township (1947). Justice Felix Frankfurter concurred in an opinion joined by four other justices that argued there was a historical record against intermixing religious and secular activities in the United States. The separationist views that dominated this case were modified by Zorach v. Clauson (1952). Justice Stanley F. Reed dissented, arguing that the establishment of religion clause should be treated more narrowly to allow the state’s incidental support of religion, a position close to the one taken by Justice Potter Stewart in later cases.
