Pierce v. Society of Sisters
The Court struck down an Oregon law requiring public school attendance, recognizing the liberty of parents to direct their children's education.
Overview
Oregon's Compulsory Education Act, backed by the Ku Klux Klan and anti-Catholic sentiment, would have closed private and parochial schools. The Society of Sisters, a Catholic school operator, sued. Justice McReynolds wrote for a unanimous Court that the act unreasonably interfered with the liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control, and destroyed the business and property of private schools. Pierce established parental rights in education as a component of substantive due process, still invoked in modern disputes over schooling and family autonomy.
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