Pohl v. State

Background

Two individuals connected to St. John’s Evangelical Congregational School in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, were convicted under an Ohio law that forbade teaching the German language to pupils below the eighth grade in elementary, private, and parochial schools and required instruction to be in English. The convictions were reviewed by Ohio’s highest court, and the case reached the United States Supreme Court for final decision.

Reasoning

The central question was whether the means used by the state law deprived teachers and those affected of the liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The opinion explains that childhood is when familiarity with a language is formed, and in areas where children hear other languages at home it can be reasonable for schools to favor English. But the Court said the proper test is whether the statute, given its goal, goes beyond reason and becomes an arbitrary command. Applying that test, the Court concluded that the Ohio statute that expressly forbade teaching German crossed that line and was unconstitutional.

Real world impact

The Court’s decision prevents enforcement of Ohio’s blanket ban on teaching German to young pupils and preserves teachers’ ability to instruct languages in the affected elementary, private, and parochial schools. The ruling centers on the constitutional protection of liberty against unreasonable state limits on what teachers may teach to children during their early years, and it invalidates this specific statutory prohibition.