Essay Database

Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. Comm. School District 393 U.S. 503 (1969) 21 Freedom of Speech Argued on November 12, 1968 Decided on February 24, 1969 Dan L. Johnston argued the cause for the petitioner (Nov. 12, 1968) Allan A. Herrick argued the cause for the respondents (Nov. 12, 1968) John Tinker, 15 years old, his sister Mary Beth Tinker, 13 years old, and Christopher Echardt, 16 years old, decided along with their parents to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to their Des Moines schools during …

…a prohibition against the wearing of armbands in public school, as a form of symbolic protest, violate the First Amendment's freedom of speech protections? The wearing of armbands was "closely kin to 'pure speech'" and protected by the First Amendment. School environments imply limitations on free expression, but here the principals lacked justification for imposing any such limits.The principals had failed to show that the forbidden conduct would substantially interfere with appropriate school discipline.