<Table> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Engel v. Vitale </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Supreme Court of the United States </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Argued April 3, 1962 Decided June 25, 1962 </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Full case name </Th> <Td> Steven I. Engel, et al. v. William J. Vitale, Jr., et al .' </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Citations </Th> <Td> 370 U.S. 421 (more) 82 S. Ct. 1261; 8 L. Ed . 2d 601; 1962 U.S. LEXIS 847; 20 Ohio Op . 2d 328; 86 A.L.R. 2d 1285 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Prior history </Th> <Td> 191 N.Y.S. 2d 453 (Sup . Ct. 1959), aff'd, 206 N.Y.S. 2d 183 (App . Div. 1960), aff'd, 176 N.E. 2d 579 (N.Y. 1961) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Subsequent history </Th> <Td> 186 N.E. 2d 124 (N.Y. 1962) </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Holding </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Government - directed prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, even if the prayer is denominationally neutral and students may remain silent or be excused from the classroom during its recitation . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Court membership </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> <Dl> <Dt> Chief Justice </Dt> <Dd> Earl Warren </Dd> <Dt> Associate Justices </Dt> <Dd> Hugo Black Felix Frankfurter William O. Douglas Tom C. Clark John M. Harlan II William J. Brennan Jr . Potter Stewart Byron White </Dd> </Dl> </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Case opinions </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Majority </Th> <Td> Black, joined by Warren, Douglas, Clark, Harlan, Brennan </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Concurrence </Th> <Td> Douglas </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Dissent </Th> <Td> Stewart </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> Frankfurter and White took no part in the consideration or decision of the case . </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Laws applied </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="2"> U.S. Const . amend . I </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Th_colspan="2"> Engel v. Vitale </Th> </Tr>

The warren court’s decision about prayer in public schools outlawed