Abington Township vs. Schempp
374 U.S. 203 (1963)
By
Laura Graff

Facts of the Case

Abington Township was the home of the Schempp family: Edward, his wife Sidney and their children Roger, Donna and Ellory.  The Schempp family followed Unitarian religious practices closely and attended church on a regular basis.  Roger and Donna both attended Abington Senior High School in Pennsylvania where every morning a student would read a chosen verse from the Holy Bible.  The readings were broadcasted into each homeroom through an intercommunications system.  Following the reading, students would stand to recite the Lord’s Prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance.  Any other announcements regarding the school day would conclude this morning broadcast.  According to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it was required by law that “at least ten verses from the Holy Bible shall be read, without comment, at the opening of each public school on each school day”.  Children were permitted to be excused from the Bible readings if a request from a parent or guardian was submitted in writing.  Readings and recitation were not followed by any form of comment, question or interpretation from the teachers.  All of the routines were voluntary, and at any time the student was permitted to be excused with the request of a parent or guardian.

The Schempp family brought this situation to the district court, because they believed it violated their rights under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.  Schempp argued that these Bible readings exposed his children to religious beliefs that were different than their own faith.  At the second district court hearing, Schempp announced that after considering having his children removed from the morning Bible readings, he decided against it due to the fact that it could affect the children’s relationship with their teacher or classmates.  If the children were removed from the classroom, they could also potentially miss other important announcements or be viewed in a negative manner while standing in the hallway.

Court Decision

In 1963, the district court ruled in favor of Schempp regarding the Pennsylvania school district’s violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.  However, the case continued when the Pennsylvania school district appealed the case to the Supreme Court and on June 17, 1963 the Supreme Court also ruled in favor of Schempp.

Reasons for Decision
           
The court’s decision to rule in Schempp’s favor came from the basis of a previous court case ruling in Engel vs. Vitale in which the court ruled that allowing prayer in school was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution that states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion”.  Therefore, the previous ruling in Engel vs. Vitale was upheld and the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Schempp on the basis that religious readings and prayer in school were unconstitutional, because this violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
Works Cited

"School District of Abington Township, Pennsylvania v. Schempp." Legal Information 
Institute: Supreme Court Collection. Cornell University Law School, Web. 24 Sept 2009. <http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics.html>.