Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education

Citation74 L.Ed. 913,50 S.Ct. 335,281 U.S. 370
Decision Date28 April 1930
Docket NumberNo. 468,468
PartiesCOCHRAN et al. v. LOUISIANA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION et al
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

Messrs. Challen B. Ellis and Wade H. Ellis, both of Washington, D. C., for appellants.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 370-372 intentionally omitted] Mr. Chief Justice HUGHES delivered the opinion of the Court.

The appellants, as citizens and taxpayers of the state of Louisiana, brought this suit to restrain the State Board of Education and other state officials from expending any part of the severance tax fund in purchasing school books and in supplying them free of cost to the school children of the state, under Acts No. 100 and No. 143 of 1928, upon the ground that the legislation violated specified provisions of the Constitution of the state and also section 4 of article 4 and the Fourteenth Amendment of the Federal Constitution. The Supreme Court of the state affirmed the judgment of the trial court which refused to issue an injunction. 168 La. 1030, 123 So. 664.

Act No. 100 of 1928 provided that the severance tax found of the state, after allowing funds and appropriations as required by the state Constitution, should be devoted 'first, to supplying school books to the school children of the State.' The Board of Education was directed to provide 'school books for school children free of cost to such children.' Act No. 143 of 1928 made appropriations in accordance with the above provisions.

The Supreme Court of the state, following its decision in Borden v. Louisiana State Board of Education, 168 La. 1005, 123 So. 655, held that these acts were not repugnant to either the state or the Federal Constitution.

No substantial Federal question is presented under section 4 of article 4 of the Federal Constitution guaranteeing to every state a republican form of government, as questions arising under this provision are political, not judicial, in character. State of Ohio ex rel. Bryant v. Akron Metropolitan Park District, 281 U. S. 74, 50 S. Ct. 228, 74 L. Ed. —, decided March 12, 1930, and cases there cited.

The contention of the appellant under the Fourteenth Amendment is that taxation for the purchase of school books constituted a taking of private property for a private purpose. Citizens' Sav. & Loan Association v. Topeka, 20 Wall. 655, 22 L. Ed. 455. The purpose is said to be to aid private, religious, sectarian, and other schools not embraced in the public educational system of the state by furnishing text-books free to the children attending such private schools. The operation and effect of the legislation in question were described by the Supreme Court of the state as follows (168 La. page 1020, 123 So. 655, 660): 'One may scan the acts in vain to ascertain where any money is...

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  • Snyder v. Town of Newtown
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Connecticut
    • May 31, 1960
    ...no public purpose.' Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 7, 67 S.Ct. 504, 507, 91 L.Ed. 711; Cochran v. Louisiana Board of Education, 281 U.S. 370, 50 S.Ct. 335, 74 L.Ed. 913; Interstate Consolidated Street Ry. Co. v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 207 U.S. 79, 87, 28 S.Ct. 26, 52 L.E......
  • Minnesota Federation of Teachers v. Nelson
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 8th Circuit. United States District Court of Minnesota
    • July 2, 1990
    ...1060 (1968); Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1, 67 S.Ct. 504, 91 L.Ed. 711 (1947); Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education, 281 U.S. 370, 50 S.Ct. 335, 74 L.Ed. 913 (1930). A majority of the cases upheld the constitutionality of the particular funding statute at issue. On eigh......
  • Carmichael v. Southern Coal Coke Co Same v. Gulf States Paper Corporation
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • May 24, 1937
    ...642. 'Individual interests are aided only as the common interest is safeguarded.' See Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education, 281 U.S. 370, 375, 50 S.Ct. 335, 336, 74 L.Ed. 913; cf. Clark v. Nash, 198 U.S. 361, 367, 25 S.Ct. 676, 49 L.Ed. 1085, 4 Ann.Cas. 1171; Hairston v. Danville &......
  • Meek v. Pittenger, Civ. A. No. 73-269.
    • United States
    • United States District Courts. 3th Circuit. United States District Court (Eastern District of Pennsylvania)
    • February 11, 1974
    ...its finances. The textbook loan program is controlled by Board of Education v. Allen, supra, and Cochran v. Louisiana State Board of Education, 281 U.S. 370, 50 S.Ct. 335, 74 L.Ed. 913 (1930). We find that the textbook loan provisions of Act 195 both facially and as thus far applied (1) do ......
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  • Awakening the Law: Unmasking Free Exercise Exceptionalism
    • United States
    • Emory University School of Law Emory Law Journal No. 72-5, 2023
    • Invalid date
    ...rights" as the interest parents have in "the religious upbringing of their children").64. See Cochran v. La. State Bd. of Educ., 281 U.S. 370, 370 (1930); Everson v. Bd. of Educ., 330 U.S. 1, 3 (1947); Bd. of Educ. v. Allen, 392 U.S. 236, 238 (1968).65. Everson, 330 U.S. at 16 (quoting Reyn......
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    • University of Nebraska - Lincoln Nebraska Law Review No. 80, 2021
    • Invalid date
    ...See infra text accompanying notes 13-88. 11. See infra text accompanying notes 89-188. 12. See infra text accompanying notes 189-228. 13. 281 U.S. 370 (1930). 14. See id. at 373-74. 15. Id. at 375 (quoting Borden v. Louisiana State Bd. of Educ., 123 So. 655, 660 (La. 1929)). 16. 330 U.S. 1 ......
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    • September 22, 2008
    ...Id. (153) Id. at 554. (154) The United States Supreme Court first articulated a "child-benefit" theory in Cochran v. La. Bd. of Educ., 281 U.S. 370, 374-75 (155) Gaffney, 220 N.W.2d at 557. (156) Bd. of Educ. v. Allen, 392 U.S. 236, 243-44 (1968). (157) Id. at 250 (Black, J., dissenting). (......
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    • Libertad de conciencia y escuela en Estados Unidos
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    ...sus beneficiarios eran exclusivamente los alumnos, independientemente de que asis- 277 Cochran v. Lousiana State Board of Education, 281 U.S. 370 (1930). 278 281 U.S. 374. Libertad de conciencia y escuela en Estados Unidos 127 tiesen a escuelas públicas o privadas de carácter secular o reli......
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