@article {667281,
	title = {Yoder Revisited: Why the Landmark Amish Schooling Case Could-and Should-Be Overturned},
	journal = {Virginia Law Review},
	volume = {92},
	number = {3},
	year = {2011},
	pages = {681-722},
	abstract = {
	Wisconsin v. Yoder\&nbsp;is a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that Amish children could not be compelled by the state to attend school past eighth grade, as this would violate their parents{\textquoteright} Free Exercise rights. This Note asserts that\&nbsp;Yoder\&nbsp;is an obsolete opinion that is ripe for overturning.\&nbsp;



	The Supreme Court takes into account four stare decisis factors when reconsidering a prior decision. It considers (1) whether the factual circumstances have evolved in such a manner {\textquotedblleft}as to have robbed the old decision of significant application or justification,{\textquotedblright} (2) whether the decision is subject to reliance interests that would create {\textquotedblleft}special hardships or inequities{\textquotedblright} if it were overruled, (3) whether {\textquotedblleft}related principles of law have so far developed as to have left the old decision no more than a remnant of abandoned doctrine,{\textquotedblright} and (4) whether the decision has proven to be unworkable.



	This Note holds that the\&nbsp;Yoder\&nbsp;decision does not hold up under these considerations. It contends that (1) the factual assumptions that underpin Yoder are no longer accurate and that recent changes have undermined the decision, (2) that the\&nbsp;Yoder\&nbsp;exemption is not subject to reliance interests that would create {\textquotedblleft}special hardships or inequities{\textquotedblright} if it were overturned, (3) that the Court{\textquoteright}s ruling in\&nbsp;Employment Division v. Smith\&nbsp;has left\&nbsp;Yoder\&nbsp;a relic of abandoned doctrine, and (4) that the {\textquotedblleft}hybrid-rights{\textquotedblright} theory that\&nbsp;Yoder{\textquoteright}s\&nbsp;continued applicability rests on is unworkable.\&nbsp;



	The Note concludes that because\&nbsp;Yoder\&nbsp;fails each of the four\&nbsp;stare decisis\&nbsp;tests, the decision should be overturned.

},
	url = {https://www.virginialawreview.org/volumes/content/yoder-revisited-why-landmark-amish-schooling-case-could{\textemdash}and-should{\textemdash}be-overturned}
}
