 In an 8-1 decision announced on March 8, 1948 , the court reversed the ruling of the lower courts and held that the school district's religious instruction program was unconstitutional.A critical issue in the case was whether the constitutional ban on establishing religion meant that all sects must be treated equally, as lawyers for Champaign argued was the case in their schools, or whether it required strict neutrality between belief and unbelief, which was Mrs. McCollum's successful contention.