U.S. Supreme Court MEYER V.S.

STATE OF NEBRASKA

FACTS: Plaintiff is a teacher in Zion Parochial School in Nebraska. He was tried and convicted in the district court for Hamilton country, Nebraska on the ground that he unlawfully taught the subject of reading in German language to Raymond Parpart, a 10-year-old child who had not yet attained and successfully passed the 8th grade. This conviction was based on an act relating to the teaching of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska (approved April 9, 1919). The said act prohibited the teaching of foreign languages to students that had not yet completed the 8 th grade. The Supreme Court of Nebraska affirmed the decision of the trial court. However, Plaintiff claimed that education was a fundamental liberty interest that must be protected. He further claimed that the statute infringed the liberty guaranteed to the plaintiff by the 14th amendment. Hence, this appeal to the US Supreme Court ISSUE: Whether or not the statute, as construed and applied, unreasonably infringes the liberty guaranteed to the plaintiff in error by the Fourteenth Amendment, which states that 'No state ... shall deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.' HELD: The statute that prohibits the teaching of foreign languages to students who have not yet passed the 8th grade is unconstitutional because it infringes on the liberty interests of the plaintiff and fails to reasonably relate to any end within the competency of the state. The 14th Amendment protects individuals from arbitrary or unreasonable state action impairing life, liberty, or property interests. The right to practice the profession of the plaintiff is a right protected by the amendment. The stated purpose of restriction on the right to teach such foreign languages was that children who know only English through grade eight will be better citizens of the US. However, because there is no clear danger to the state that stems from younger children studying foreign languages, the reason given for the restriction is unreasonable and arbitrary, therefore, insufficient to support the limitation on the right to teach. Nonetheless, the protection of the Constitution extends to those who speak other

languages. Education is a fundamental liberty interest that must be protected, and mere knowledge of the German language cannot be reasonably regarded as harmful. RULING OF THE COURT: The judgment of the court below must be reversed and the cause remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion. REVERSED.

NOTES (IN CASE YOU WANT THE FULL CONTENT OF THE LAWS AND STUFF) An act relating to the teaching of foreign languages in the state of Nebraska,' approved April 9, 1919 (Laws 1919, c. 249): Section 1. No person, individually or as a teacher, shall, in any private, denominational, parochial or public school, teach any subject to any person in any language than the English language. Sec. 2. Languages, other than the English language, may be taught as languages only after a pupil shall have attained and successfully passed the eighth grade as evidenced by a certificate of graduation issued by the county superintendent of the county in which the child resides. Sec. 3. Any person who violates any of the provisions of this act shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction, shall be subject to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars ($25), nor more than one hundred dollars ($100), or be confined in the county jail for any period not exceeding thirty days for each offense. Sec. 4. Whereas, an emergency exists, this act shall be in force from and after its passage and approval.' The 14th amendment of the US Constitution SECTION 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. SECTION 2. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the

choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twentyone years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state. SECTION 3.No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability. SECTION 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void. SECTION 5.The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article. IN ANALOGY WITH THE PHILIPPINE CONSTITUTION (If ever magtanong si mam..hehe) (I am also not yet sure here. Hehe) Article II Section 11. The State values the dignity of every human person and guarantees full respect for human rights. Article II Section 17. The State shall give priority to education, science and technology, arts, culture, and sports to foster patriotism and nationalism, accelerate social progress, and promote total human liberation and development.

Article III Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law, nor shall any person be denied the equal protection of the laws. Article XIV Sections 1-5 (hehehe di ko na alam :P)