Decision of the Court

The case Abington School District v. Schempp was only one of many cases brought before the courts weather at the city, state, or local level. Starting from about the year 1910 similar cases were being brought before the courts regularly. There were two pre-existing laws that took a long precedence before overturning the decision in the Supreme Court Case. The first was the First Amendment's Establishment Clause which stated (“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.”)http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Murray+v.+Curlett The other law is the Free Exercise Clause ("or prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]"). http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Murray+v.+Curlett These two laws were the previous precedent for all decisions of the courts alike. From about the turn of the century there were laws in certain areas barring the practices of religion and other areas that tolerated it or even condoned its practice. The laws in place at the time before the case went to the supreme court were based on various decisions directly relating to the two previous laws already in place and not the constitutionality of the practice of religion in public schools by itself. The case Abington School District v. Schempp was brought originally before the district court where Schempp was awarded a victory. The School District appealed to the courts and soon after a clause was written into the judgment allowing for the students to be excused as an alternate means of continuing the practice. Schempp was not satisfied stating implicitly there was still no separation from church and state. His case was then brought before the Supreme Court and then ordered back down to district court for a new trial. Schempp again won a b the case by a clear margin. And then again the School District appealed to the Supreme court, where it would finally be decided by the Supreme Court of the United States.