Protecting Orthodox Jewish Schools

In the 1972 Supreme Court case Wisconsin v. Yoder, Amish Americans challenged Wisconsin's compulsory education law, which required children to attend public or private school until the age of sixteen. They argued that the law threatened their religious way of life, as traditional Amish families typically remove children from school after eighth grade. In their view, Amish vocational instruction at home could prepare minors for a full and productive life as democratic citizens while still adhering to Amish religious principles. At the time, the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America -- along with a wide range of other Jewish organizations from across the denominational spectrum -- joined a brief in support of the Amish that echoed these two core principles. "American Jewry," the brief explained, "has a strong interest in universal secular education for children," but also a "strong interest in religious freedom and in a religiously and culturally pluralistic America." To balance the two would require "resolv[ing] a clash of competing interests, all occupying high levels in our democratic scales of justice."