Engel v. Vitale

E33570

Establishment Clause case First Amendment case United States Supreme Court case landmark case

Engel v. Vitale is a 1962 U.S. Supreme Court case that ruled state-sponsored prayer in public schools unconstitutional under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

Aliases (1)

Engel et al. v. Vitale et al. ×1

Statements (48)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	Establishment Clause case → First Amendment case → United States Supreme Court case → landmark case →
appliedToStatesThrough	Fourteenth Amendment →
areaOfLaw	constitutional law → education law → religion and the law →
citation	370 U.S. 421 →
constitutionalProvision	Establishment Clause → First Amendment to the United States Constitution →
country	United States →
decisionDate	1962-06-25 →
dissentingJustice	Potter Stewart NERFINISHED →
docketNumber	468 →
effect	limited role of religion in official public school activities →
establishedDoctrine	school-sponsored religious activities are subject to Establishment Clause scrutiny →
fullCaseName	Engel et al. v. Vitale et al. →
holding	government-written prayers in public schools violate the Establishment Clause → state-sponsored prayer in public schools is unconstitutional →
jurisdiction	Supreme Court of the United States →
languageOfPrayerCharacterization	government-composed, officially sanctioned prayer →
legalIssue	application of the Establishment Clause to state action → constitutionality of state-sponsored prayer in public schools →
majorityJustices	Earl Warren → Hugo L. Black → John M. Harlan II → Potter Stewart NERFINISHED → Tom C. Clark → William J. Brennan Jr. NERFINISHED → William O. Douglas NERFINISHED →
majorityOpinionBy	Hugo L. Black →
originatingCourt	New York state courts →
party	Steven I. Engel → William J. Vitale Jr. →
precedentFor	subsequent school prayer cases in the United States →
principle	government must remain neutral in matters of religion in public schools →
relatedCase	Abington School District v. Schempp → Lee v. Weisman → Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe →
result	prohibition of official school prayer in public schools →
stateAgencyInvolved	New York State Board of Regents →
stateInvolved	New York →
subjectMatter	church–state separation in public education → school prayer →
typeOfPrayerChallenged	non-denominational prayer drafted by a state agency →
voteSplit	6–1 →
yearDecided	1962 →

Referenced by (6)

Subject (surface form when different)	Predicate
Lemon v. Kurtzman → Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe →	relatedCase
Engel v. Vitale ("Engel et al. v. Vitale et al.") →	fullCaseName
First Amendment to the United States Constitution →	hasLandmarkCase
Establishment Clause →	keyCase
Everson v. Board of Education →	relatedTo