Lawsuit
McCollum's suit, Illinois ex rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71, Champaign Cty., was filed in the 6th judicial circuit court and sought to bar the classes, which were taught by members of a private religious association and not public school employees. The petition before the court complained that the school district's practice was a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, which provides that the state will not establish or favor one religion over another religion, or favor religion over non-religion, and also violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees that the law will apply equally to all people.
On September 10, 1945 the opening argument by McCollum's attorney, Landon Chapman, was based on the idea that the program is sectarian and social pressure from students and teachers was used to get all students to participate. Defense attorney, John Franklin, indicated that similar programs are carried out in 46 states and in 80 Illinois communities. The Baptist Joint Committee submitted an amicus brief in support of McCollum, saying "We must not allow our religious fervor to blind us to the essential fact that no religious faith is secure when it meshes its authority with that of the state."
On the first day of the trial a Bible-carrying man is said to have approached the school board's attorney and announced that he was there to testify for the Lord. Franklin turned to him and replied, “The Lord, sir, is not on trial here today.” This quote was the source for the title of Dan McCollum's book on his mother's experience as well as the title of Jay Rosenstein's 2011 PBS documentary.
McCollum's father, Arthur Cromwell, testified in the original trial and elicited a gasp from the crowd when he said he did not believe in God. Both Cromwell and ten-year-old James McCollum "affirmed" that they would tell the truth in lieu of swearing by God. In another key testimony, Rev. Alva R Cartlidge, president of the Champaign school council for religious education, explained that the program had grown out of spontaneous demand caused by increasing juvenile delinquency.
The county circuit court ruled against McCollum and was subsequently upheld in fall 1946 by the Illinois Supreme Court upon appeal.
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