Meyer v. Nebraska

Background

An instructor at a parochial school was charged after teaching reading in German to a ten-year-old who had not passed the eighth grade, under a 1919 Nebraska law that barred teaching any subject in a language other than English until that grade was passed. The State courts upheld the conviction, finding the law a valid exercise of the police power to promote civic unity and English as the common language.

Reasoning

The Supreme Court examined whether enforcing the law in this case unreasonably infringed the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court said the liberty interest includes the right to teach, to acquire knowledge, and for parents to control their children’s education. It noted the law singled out modern foreign languages while allowing ancient languages, and found no adequate, peace-time justification for criminally punishing a teacher for instructing a young child in German. The Court concluded the statute, as applied here, was arbitrary and lacked a reasonable relation to a legitimate state purpose.

Real world impact

The Court reversed the teacher’s conviction and sent the case back for further proceedings consistent with the opinion. Practically, the decision protects teachers and parents from criminal enforcement of broad language bans like Nebraska’s when no adequate public-safety reason is shown. It limits a State’s ability to criminally prohibit modern-language instruction for young pupils absent convincing justification; the ruling addresses this application of the law rather than declaring every aspect of the statute beyond the State’s power.