The year 2018 marks the 75th anniversary of West Virginia Bd. of Educ. v. Barnette, one of the earliest, most significant, and most enduring Supreme Court statements on the First Amendment. Containing Robert H. Jackson’s sweeping rhetoric about freedom of conscience and overruling a decision involving identical facts from three years earlier, Barnette recognized the right of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a despised and violently targeted minority religious group, to protection against compelled participation in patriotic rituals in the middle of World War II. Jackson’s ideal of the “fixed star in our constitutional constellation” has been a touchstone for seven decades of First Amendment jurisprudence. And amid an array of new disputes over patriotic symbols and compelled expression, this anniversary year offers an opportunity to examine Barnette’s history, evolution, and continued relevance.

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