Ironically, the expulsion of schoolchildren for their religious beliefs is also contrary to the constitution of Argentina. So when, in violation of the law of the land, children were expelled, Jehovah’s Witnesses took the matter to the Supreme Court of Argentina.

The high court heard the case and ruled against the expulsion of schoolchildren because of religious beliefs. The Court agreed that this was unconstitutional.

The Supreme Court’s decision should have solved the problem immediately. Further expulsions should have been avoided. Students expelled in the past should have been reinstated. Even the public press felt that this would be the case. For instance, a front-page headline in the Buenos Aires Herald of March 9, 1979, declared: “SCHOOLS ORDERED TO TAKE BACK WITNESSES’ CHILDREN.” Another publication, Somos, carried this title to an article on the matter: “THE RIGHT TO LEARN.”

But did the Supreme Court’s decision have the desired effect? No, it did not. Incredibly, in May 1979, less than two months after the Supreme Court’s ruling, two Witness girls were expelled from the Cura Brochero School in Barrio Residencial América, Córdoba. These two, Alejandra D. Brentan and Veronica L. Barrionuevo, were thrown out of school for not “revering” the national symbols.

The constitutionality of the presidential decree closing down the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses was challenged in court.

The Federal Court, and next the Court of Appeals, ruled in favor of Jehovah’s Witnesses. But the government appealed that decision to the Supreme Court. On September 13, 1978, the Supreme Court rejected the case. It stated that ‘not all administrative means had been exhausted,’ and so claimed that it was not proper for them to consider the case legally.