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Constitutional Law—Freedom Of Religion—Compulsory School Attendance Law: State Interests Balanced Against Beliefs Of Members Of The Amish Faith—State V. Yoder, 49 Wis.2d 430, 182 N.W.2d 539, Cert. Granted, 402 U.S. 994 (1971), Anon

Washington Law Review

Defendants, members of the Old Order Amish religion and of the Conservative Amish Mennonite Church, refused to enroll their children, eighth-grade public school graduates, in public high school and were subsequently convicted of violating the Wisconsin Compulsory School Attendance Law. The trial court held the attendance law to be a reasonable exercise of a governmental function of the state even though the law interfered with the defendants' sincere religious beliefs. The convictions and assessments of fines were affirmed by the circuit court. On appeal, the Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed. Held: The Wisconsin Compulsory School Attendance Law, as applied to the …