The reaction by a country caught up in wartime patriotic fervor appalled the justices. Taking the Supreme Court’s decision as proof that Jehovah’s Witnesses were not good citizens, mobs attacked and burned the Witnesses’ places of worship. Members of the faith were fired from their jobs and some 2,000 Jehovah’s Witness children were expelled from school. Reprehensible as this is, I can't help but yearn for a time when the public at least reacted to Supreme Court decisions and showed basic political awareness. The Supreme Court is largely bypassed during high school (as are the other branches, to be fair), though it's extraordinarily vital.In 1940, the court ruled in Minersville School District v. Gobitis that the First Amendment did not prevent public school districts from expelling the Jehovah’s Witness children. The vote was 8 to 1, with only Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone dissenting.