RECOLLECTIONS OF WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION V. BARNETTE*

St. John's Law Review, Fall 2007 by Peterson, Gregory L, Prettyman, E Barrett Jr, Peters, Shawn Francis, Boskey, Bennett, Edmonds, Gathie Barnett, Snodgrass, Marie Barnett, Barrett, John Q

WELCOMING REMAEKS

GREGORY L. PETERSON[dagger]

Welcome. The Robert H. Jackson Center exists to preserve and advance the legacy of Justice Jackson through education, events, and exhibitry. Today's special gathering, featuring the Barnett sisters and the attorney who served during 1943 as the senior law clerk to the Chief Justice of the United States, Harlan Fiske Stone, furthers that mission.

During World War II, Gathie and Marie Barnett, along with their parents and other Jehovah's Witnesses, challenged the constitutionality of compelling school children to pledge allegiance and salute the American flag. Their Supreme Court victory, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette,1 is now a constitutional law landmark. It is a case in which Justice Jackson wrote for the Court one of his most eloquent and important opinions during his thirteen years as a Justice.

* These proceedings, cosponsored by the Robert H. Jackson Center and the Supreme Court Historical Society, occurred at the Jackson Center in Jamestown, New York, on April 28, 2006. The following remarks were edited for publication.

[dagger] Partner, Phillips Lytle LLP and Chair of the Board of Directors, Robert H. Jackson Center, Inc.

1 319 U.S. 624 (1943). During the litigation, courts misspelled the Barnett family surname as "Barnette."

The Jackson Center has been privileged, during its young existence, to host other significant protagonists in and witnesses to Justice Jackson's life and work.2 These guests have included Nuremberg prosecutors who were Jackson's colleagues in Germany sixty years ago, Jackson Supreme Court law clerks from the 1940s, Jackson Supreme Court law clerks from the 1950s (including one who is with us again today), law clerks who worked at the Court during the pendency of Brown v. Board of Education,3 law clerks who were present during the Court's deciding of Brown II,4 Supreme Court litigant Fred Korematsu,5 and, to dedicate the Jackson Center formally in 2003, Chief Justice of the United States and former Jackson law clerk William H. Rehnquist.6 We thank all of our generous guests, the community, the institutions that have cosponsored various events and many others who make this work possible.

2 See generally Jackson Center Events, www.roberthjackson.org/events/future events (last visited Aug. 23, 2007); Jackson Center Video and Audio Archive, http://www.roberthjackson.org/Center/videolist (last visited Aug. 23, 2007).

3 See John David Fassett, Earl E. Pollock, E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr. & Frank E.A. Sander, Supreme Court Law Clerks' Recollections of Brown v. Board of Education, 78 ST. JOHN'S L. REV. 515 (2004) (moderated by John Q. Barrett).

4 See Gordon B. Davidson, Daniel J. Meador, Earl E. Pollock & E. Barrett Prettyman, Jr., Supreme Court Law Clerks' Recollections of Brown v. Board of Education II, 79 ST. JOHN'S L. REV. 823 (2005) (introduced and moderated by John Q. Barrett).

5 See Korematsu v. United States, 323 U.S. 214 (1944); see also Korematsu v. United States, 584 F. Supp. 1406 (N.D. Cal. 1984) (granting writ of coram nobis).

6 See Remarks of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist at the Dedication of the Robert H. Jackson Center, Jamestown, New York (May 16, 2003), http://www. supremecourtus.gov/publicinfo/speeches/sp_05- 16-03.html.

WELCOMING REMARKS

E. BARRETT PRETTYMAN, JR.[dagger]

Thank you. I am so proud to be a member of the Board-a new member of the Board-of the Jackson Center and also Vice President of the Supreme Court Historical Society. The two organizations have sponsored events before, all of which have gone extremely well. We at the Society love to do business with the Jackson Center because these people don't just talk or plan; they actually do things and get things done, as evidenced by this large crowd and these wonderful guests today.

At first glance, it might seem that the Supreme Court Historical Society and the Jackson Center do entirely different things, in the sense that the Center focuses on one man-a man, Justice Jackson, incidentally, who is a great hero of mine, a very important figure in my life-whereas the Society focuses on the Supreme Court as an institution. But at second glance, you know that the institution is really the story, the history, of a great many men and two women who have sat on that Court. So both are really focusing on the same thing, except one man here and many people there.

Again, welcome to you all. We are so glad you came. To our guests, I am as excited as you are. Thank you.

[dagger] Of Counsel, Hogan & Hartson LLP, Vice President, Supreme Court Historical Society, and Member of the Board of Directors, Robert H. Jackson Center, Inc. Mr. Prettyman served as Justice Robert H. Jackson's law clerk during the Supreme Court's October Terms 1953 and 1954 and, upon the Justice's death in October 1954, clerked for Associate Justices Felix Frankfurter and John M. Harlan, successively, during the remainder of the 1954 Term.

INTRODUCTION

PRELUDE TO BARNETTE: THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES AND THE SUPREME COURT