Sketch of Amishmen by Beulah

Hostetler (identified further under “More on the Sample Cases”) and reproduced by her permission

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Quick Overview  

In my first assignment as expert witness--Wisconsin v. Yoder (406 U.S. 205, 1972)—the U. S. Supreme Court named me (an unusual honor in that court) while citing my testimony as a basis for its defense of Amish parental rights, as did Justice Harry Blackmun in his assenting opinion.  The attorney for the Amish (William Bentley Ball of Ball & Skelly, Harrisburg, PA) then engaged me in six later cases and afterward wrote:

“I never cease telling of Erickson on the stands in Wisconsin and at Bangor, Frankfurt, etc.  You turned those cases into victories.”  (See his letter under Photocopies.)

The Supreme Court decision ended a scandal then getting under way— “Plain People” fleeing to Brazil and Central America in search of religious freedom. 

In a recent case—Benton v. Svejcar/Contreras (U. S. District Court for the District of Oregon, Case Nos. 00-6272-HO and 02-7070-HO, 2003)—the judge, having read my deposition in the first phase, went to great lengths to include my testimony in the second phrase, and relied on my statements in his opinion (see More on the sample cases).  The attorney whom I assisted, whose letter I will copy to you quickly at your request, wrote:

“Your testimony was very impressive, very effective, and very incisive.  The best measure of that was when the judge said to the other side, when they said they were going to cross-examine your further, ‘I wouldn’t ask him much, because the more that man talks, the less progress your side makes.’”

(At issue was state action against an apparently outstanding community college teacher because her degrees were from a university that, while making notable academic contributions, refused to seek the approval of accrediting agencies because of their interference with religious activities and unorthodox educational methods.)

In addition to these cases on parental rights and accreditation, I have been expert witness, in sixteen states and the nation’s capital, either testifying or giving sworn statements in preparation for testimony that didn’t occur, on the following issues, most of which have strong constitutional implications:

o    state regulation of parental choice

o    home-schooling

o    tax support for private schools or their patrons

o    parental rights of Native Americans

o    student religious groups abused in public schools

o    school size

o      single-sex schools, and

o    public school uniforms.

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