But Jehovah’s Witnesses knew that the U.S. Constitution guaranteed freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press. So, when judges construed local ordinances in such a way as to hinder the preaching of God’s Word, the Witnesses appealed their cases to the higher courts.b

In reviewing what took place, Hayden C. Covington, who had a prominent role in legal matters for the Watch Tower Society, later explained: “Had the thousands of convictions entered by the magistrates, police courts and other lower courts not been appealed, a mountain of precedent would have piled up as a giant obstacle in the field of worship. By appealing we have prevented the erection of such obstacle. Our way of worship has been written into the law of the land of the United States and other countries because of our persistence in appealing from adverse decisions.” In the United States, scores of cases went all the way to the Supreme Court.

Strengthening the Guarantees of Freedom

One of the first cases involving the ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses to reach the Supreme Court of the United States originated in Georgia and was argued before the Court on February 4, 1938. Alma Lovell had been convicted in the recorder’s court of Griffin, Georgia, of violating an ordinance that prohibited the distribution of literature of any kind without a permit from the city manager. Among other things, Sister Lovell had offered people the magazine The Golden Age. On March 28, 1938, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the ordinance was invalid because it subjected freedom of the press to license and censorship.c

The following year J. F. Rutherford, as attorney for the petitioner, presented arguments to the Supreme Court in the case of Clara Schneider v. State of New Jersey.d This was followed, in 1940, by Cantwell v. State of Connecticut,e for which J. F. Rutherford drafted the legal brief and Hayden Covington presented oral argument before the Court. The positive outcome of these cases buttressed the constitutional guarantees of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and freedom of the press.

During the next three years, the Supreme Court ruled against Jehovah’s Witnesses in 19 cases. Most significant was the adverse decision, in 1942, in Jones v. City of Opelika.l Rosco Jones had been convicted of engaging in distribution of literature on the streets of Opelika, Alabama, without payment of a license tax. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction and said that governments have the right to charge reasonable fees for canvassing and that such laws could not be challenged even if local authorities might arbitrarily revoke the license. This was a severe blow, because now any community, goaded by clergymen or anyone else who opposed the Witnesses, could legally exclude them and thus, the opposers might reason, stop the preaching activity of Jehovah’s Witnesses. But a strange thing happened.

The Tide Turns

In Jones v. Opelika, the very decision that was such a blow to the public ministry of Jehovah’s Witnesses, three of the justices stated that not only did they disagree with the Court majority on the case at hand but they also felt that they had helped to lay the foundation for it in the Gobitis case. “Since we joined in the opinion in the Gobitis case,” they added, “we think this is an appropriate occasion to state that we now believe that it was also wrongly decided.” Jehovah’s Witnesses took that as a cue to present the issues anew to the Court.

A Motion for Rehearing was filed in the case of Jones v. Opelika. In that motion, strong legal arguments were presented. It also firmly declared: “This Court should reckon with the paramount fact, that it is judicially dealing with servants of Almighty God.” Biblical precedents showing the implications of this were reviewed. Attention was directed to the advice given by the law teacher Gamaliel to the first-century Jewish supreme court, namely: “Do not meddle with these men, but let them alone; . . . otherwise, you may perhaps be found fighters actually against God.”—Acts 5:34-39.

At last, on May 3, 1943, in the landmark case Murdock v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,a the Supreme Court reversed its earlier decision in Jones v. Opelika. It declared that any license tax as a precondition to exercising one’s freedom of religion by distribution of religious literature is unconstitutional. This case reopened the doors of the United States to Jehovah’s Witnesses and has been appealed to as authority in hundreds of cases since then. May 3, 1943, was truly a memorable day for Jehovah’s Witnesses as regards litigation before the Supreme Court of the United States. On that one day, in 12 out of 13 cases (all of which were consolidated for hearing and opinion into four decisions), the Court ruled in their favor.b