Michael Farris:
In 1987, I litigated a case that history may judge to be a turning point in the battle for parents’ rights in the United States. The case, which was called Mozert v. Hawkins County Public Schools, was touted by the media as being the “Scopes II” trial. Like the first Scopes trial, Mozert was tried in Tennessee and involved evolution, religion, and a cloud of media onlookers.

This case arose when Hawkins County Public Schools expelled children who refused to read books that they said violated their religious principles. I was hired by Concerned Women for America to represent the parents of these children, who sought to restore the right of their children to attend the public school and to be given an alternative reading assignment.

There was one central issue in the case: do parents and children who possess sincere religious objections to public school curriculum have the right to an alternative instruction for the objectionable material?

The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals gave a clear, but disappointing, answer: parents have no such right. Once a child’s been submitted to the public schools for his or her education, the court said, parents lose all ability to control the course of instruction.

This week, we will examine this ruling and other similar decisions and look at the implication they have for parents’ rights. If we want to guard our rights against the courts today, we must be aware of the dangers they face. I’m Mike Farris.