Tinker v Des Moines - A Supreme Court Case
Tinker v Des Moines is a case that dealt with the free speech rights of students in public schools. It is a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1969, the court ruled that free speech did not end at the school gate.
The Tinker case centered on the question of whether students in public schools have the right to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. While the armbands were unpopular, they represented the opposition to the war. However, the armbands were prohibited by the school district. For the rest of the school year, four other students refused to remove their armbands.
One of the petitioners, Christopher Eckhardt, was a 16-year-old high school student. He wore a black armband to the school, as did his sister. They both were suspended. This caused a lot of controversy and tension between the students and the teachers.
Mary Beth Tinker was 13 years old and had her junior high school. She and her friends wore black armbands to protest the war. When she was asked to remove the armband, she refused.
The ACLU, as a result, argued the case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. They urged the court to declare that students have the right to wear armbands in the school. Their argument was that Tinker v Des Moines was an important First Amendment precedent.
Four other students filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for Iowa. Two justices disagreed with the majority, while two others agreed with the court.
