Everson v. Board of Education

Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

A New Jersey law authorized reimbursing parents for their children’s transportation to school, including parochial schools. A taxpayer challenged the law as violating the Establishment Clause, arguing that public funds should not be used for religious education.

Significance

Justice Black’s 5-4 opinion upheld the reimbursements but articulated a strict separationist interpretation of the Establishment Clause. The Court held that the Establishment Clause, incorporated against the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, erected ‘a wall of separation between church and state.’ The clause means that neither state nor federal government can pass laws aiding one religion or all religions. The reimbursement was upheld because it was a general welfare benefit available to all students, not a direct aid to religion.

Category

US Federal Case Law