One hundred years ago, the Supreme Court stared down the Ku Klux Klan and their allies in Oregon to affirm parental rights as fundamental and declare that children are not “mere creature[s] of the state.”
Writing for the 9-0 majority in Pierce v. Society of Sisters, issued June 1, 1925, Justice James C. McReynolds effectively articulated that the Compulsory Education Act intruded on parental liberties and the family unit.
Of course, he was right.
Pierce, a progressive Democrat, had partnered with the KKK to pass a referendum requiring every parent and guardian to send their child to public school.
Failure to do so was declared a misdemeanor.
And so, the fight for parents to defend their fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children was launched 100 years ago. Today, Moms for Liberty is honored to pick up that baton and carry it through to the finish line.
While Pierce and his allies in the KKK have passed, the same drum beat of authoritarians advocating for reduced parental influence continues. Today they are dressed in “red for ed” t-shirts but they have the same goals: to insert government entities and implement policies that divide children from families by forcing their radical ideologies on children which are in opposition to most Americans’ values and religious beliefs.
Justice McReynolds wrote a sweeping opinion that firmly embedded the principle that parents have the fundamental right to direct the upbringing of their children in American constitutional law. This ruling beat back the ambitions of these radicals, but not for long.
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“The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the state to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only,” he said.
Then, he drove a wooden stake in the overreaching public-school monopoly: “The child is not the mere creature of the state; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.”
Moms for Liberty is fighting today to preserve McReynolds’s decision and defend God-given parental rights.
One might think a 9-0 Supreme Court decision would have settled the matter once and for all.
Sadly, it is never going to be settled, so the fight goes on and we continue to run with the baton.
When Moms for Liberty launched in January of 2021, our opponents acted like the supporters of the Oregon Compulsory Education Act. These radial leftists include the teachers’ unions, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and high-ranking elected officials. Their desire to break the bonds between parents and their children was exposed during the shuttering of schools in 2020 for up to two years.
Whatever you might think about the COVID-19 pandemic, it was a moment of clarity for parents, and a moment of brazen honesty for authoritarian elites in our education system.
In Virginia’s 2021 gubernatorial contest, Democrat Terry McAuliff said the quiet part out loud: “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”
The public schoolteachers put their money where his mouth was when the American Federation of Teachers gave McAuliff more than $800,000 in contributions, along with $400,000 from the National Education Association and $15,000 from the Virginia Education Association.
McAuliff’s rare burst of candor cost him the election, as Virginia parents rose up by knocking on enough doors, holding enough signs, and making enough phone calls to overwhelm the public school lobby. We won that battle, but the war continues.
Moms for Liberty members are committed to ensuring that parental rights are protected at all levels of government. That’s why we are inviting Americans everywhere to join thousands of citizens and public officials including President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, U.S. Senator Rick Scott, U.S. Senator Bernie Moreno, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, and Governors Kevin Stitt and Greg Abbott—to sign the Parent Pledge and stand united in support of families.
We urge all parents to bring a copy of our Parental Rights Resolution to their local school boards and request its adoption this June—reinforcing the principle that parents, not government bureaucrats, should guide their children’s education.
Also, we are calling on state legislatures across the country to pass a Parents’ Bill of Rights, making it clear that the right to raise and educate children according to one’s values is fundamental and must be protected. Shockingly, only 18 states currently have such legislation in place.
We ask for your support for U.S. Senator Tim Scott’s Families’ Rights and Responsibilities Act which represents a critical step forward in national efforts to safeguard families.
One hundred years ago, Oregon tried to strip parents of their rights — and it took the Supreme Court to stop them. We hope you’ll stand with us as we celebrate one hundred years of parental rights and fight to ensure these rights for generations to come.
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