In 1922, the Masonic Grand Lodge of Oregon sponsored a bill to require all school-age children to attend public schools. With support of the Klan and Democratic Governor Walter M. Pierce, endorsed by the Klan, the Compulsory Education Act was passed by a vote of 115,506 to 103,685. Its primary purpose was to shut down Catholic schools in Oregon, but it also affected other private and military schools. The constitutionality of the law was challenged in court and ultimately struck down by the US Supreme Court in "Pierce v. Society of Sisters" (1925) before it went into effect, in a ruling that has been called "the Magna Carta of the parochial school system." The law caused outraged Catholics to organize locally and nationally for the right to send their children to Catholic schools.