Engle

Engel v. Vitale

Background:New York's Board of Regents authorized schools to recite a short, voluntary prayer to start each school day. They did this to take it out of the hands of local communities, hopefully defusing tension because it was so controversial.

Question: Does the reading of a nondenominational prayer at the start of the school day violate the "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment?

Conclusion:Yes. Engel won 6 votes to 1. Just because it's nondenominational doesn't make it constitutional, because it means New York officially approves religion. This was the first time the Court used the establishment clause to eliminate religious activities. This ruling is still unpopular.