ABSTRACT
This chapter, the most notable opinions from World War II was the Court's decision in West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 US 624 (1943), reversing an earlier decision in Minersville School District v. Gob– itis, 310 US 586 (1940), and invalidating compulsory flag salutes in public schools. In an opinion appropriately issued on Flag Day (June 14), five of the eight other justices agreed with Justice Robert H. Jackson's opinion that "If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. "World War II highlighted the evils of racism. The end of World War II was followed relatively quickly by the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, then the world's two major superpowers.
