where were we?

A federal judge struck down a new Pennsylvania law that would have required public and private schools in Pennsylvania to begin each day by having students sing the national anthem or recite the Pledge of Allegiance. While the judge agreed that the state had a compelling interest in providing a full educational experience for children, including the teaching of patriotism and civics, he also found that the law was not narrowly tailored because it did not employ the "least restrictive means" for advancing that interest.

The judge analogized this case to Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, as the law in question forces private schools to express certain views by requiring the recitation of the pledge or anthem, which are contrary to the schools' educational philosophies, and therefore restricts their right to engage in only the expressive activity in which they wish to engage. In Dale, the Supreme Court held that the decision of whether or not to accept homosexuals into the Boy Scouts of America was an expressive activity, and therefore protected by the First Amendment. Forcing the Boy Scouts to accept homosexuals would interfere with their beliefs. Indeed.