On May 25, 1920, Robert T. Meyer was reading to his elementary students when the county attorney entered his classroom. A teacher at a private school in Hampton, Nebraska, run by the local Zion Lutheran Church, Meyer was giving a German-language lesson. He knew a state law, enacted during the xenophobic hysteria at the end of the Great War, banned foreign language instruction. Even so, he continued speaking German. He was later indicted, found guilty, and fined. Meyer appealed all the way to the United States Supreme Court. And on June 4, 1923, it ruled in his favor, issuing one of the most sweeping defenses of individual freedom in history.

On March 31, 2023 the Center for Judicial Engagement at the Institute for Justice brought together a number of scholars to celebrate the centenary of this monumental moment for liberty and the foundation for so much in the years that followed. We began with our keynote speaker and the foremost historian of the decision, Professor William G. Ross of Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law. He detailed the case’s background and drama, including the characters involved, what led the Court to rule as it did, and its immediate aftermath. Then we welcomed four different panels of experts to discuss the various ways the decision has shaped numerous areas of constitutional law, including the right to earn a living, the right to raise a family, the First Amendment’s protections of speech and religion, and the incorporation of the Bill of Rights against the states. Our last panel then considered the continuing influence of Meyer on unenumerated rights as we look to the future.

Those who gave presentations on the panels were David E. Bernstein, George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School; Kermit Roosevelt, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School; Susan Lawrence, Rutgers University; David M. Wagner, Free Families Foundation; Michael Bindas, Institute for Justice; James Y. Stern, Williams & Mary Law School; Robert McNamara, Institute for Justice; Angela Carmella, Seton Hall University School of Law; Elizabeth Wydra, Constitutional Accountability Center; Julia D. Mahoney, University of Virginia School of Law; and Anthony Sanders, Institute for Justice. Renée Flaherty and Dana Berliner, Institute for Justice, and Alexa Gervasi, served as moderators.