Eventually, the court case made its way to the Supreme Court in 1963. During this time, the Supreme Court dealt with two other similar court cases. The first one, Engel v. Vitale, was a year prior and the court ruled that it was unconstitutional to make students pray in school. The second case, Abington School District v. Schempp, happened in 1963, right before O’Hair’s case. Once again, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, stating it was unconstitutional to be forced to read the Bible.
Therefore, when O’Hair’s case made it to the Supreme Court, it was not the first time this type of lawsuit went to the Supreme Court. So just like with the previous two cases, O’Hair won her case. Because of her efforts, and the efforts of others, against prayer in the schools, the situation started to change. In 1964, Life Magazine wrote an article about O’Hair and her fight to end religion in schools. It was in this interview that O’Hair ‘s nickname “The most hated woman in America” made headlines.
O’Hair’s Activism Continues
However, O’Hair’s new nickname did not seem to bother her one bit. In fact, O’Hair remained an activist for the causes she truly believed in. During the 1960s and beyond, she continued to file many lawsuits over different situations. For instance, in the late 1960s, she filed a lawsuit against NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), because they read verses from the Bible in their Apollo 8 Genesis reading. However, this time O’Hairs efforts to bring the lawsuit to the Supreme Court failed because the court felt there was hardly any effect from the challenge’s reading.
O’Hair then started to appear on various television shows during the 1970s. However, her visits were often met with disgust from the television show hosts. While she appeared several times on The Phil Donahue Show, starting in 1967, Phil Donahue later said that she was a bully off the camera and mocked him for being Catholic. In March of 1970, she again appeared on The Phil Donahue Show along with Preacher Bob Harrington, where they debated religion.
During the road to the 1976 United States presidential election, Madalyn O’Hair became widely known for her support for Jimmy Carter. O’Hair spoke out on the several reasons why she supported Jimmy Carter. In her reasoning, O’Hair stated she foremost supported Jimmy Carter because he did not endorse religion in schools. She also added that she supported Carter because of his stance on environmental matters and that he also supported sex education in public schools.