Case Study: Tinker vs. Des Moines

Truly, I don’t know anything about this court but I did read the website of what happened but yet somehow the Tinkers won in the court case mainly because the school did not lay any good arguments on the table.

The District Court dismissed the case, upholding the constitutionality of the school board’s decision to prohibit the students from wearing the armbands. The case later moved onto the US Court of Appeals, where a 4-4 vote upheld the lower court’s decision. They then took their case to the Supreme Court.

The majority opinion says that the schools did not have the right to suspend the students

The Tinker vs. Des Moines case helped determined and interpret legal rights of young citizens for the first time. A group of students made a decision to wear black armbands to school to support a peace establishing agreement during the Vietnam War. As a result, the participating students; Mary Beth Tinker, Christopher Eckhardt, and John Tinker got suspended for their actions (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District).The school outlawed and attempted to penalize petitioners for a “silent, passive expression of opinion”, that didn’t cause any commotion (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist). The parents decided to sue the school for disrespecting the student’s constitutional rights of expression.

The Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines originated in Iowa in December 1965 when seven Des Moines high school students wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. Ultimately they were suspended in which the student’s fathers sued the school district. The court case battled through the District Court, Court of Appeals, and Supreme Court. The ultimate ruling was that Des Moines School District violated the students First Amendment rights. Years later, in Oregon in 1990, teachers a McMinnville High School started a lawful strike and in response, the school district hired replacement teachers. Following, two students wore and distributed buttons and stickers with slogans supporting the strike. The students were suspended which led to the student’s parents suing the school district where the District Court provides a ruling. Similar to Tinker v. Des Moines, Chandler v. McMinnville was ruled that the school violated the students First Amendment rights of the students.

John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Echardt all attended the same public school. They decided to wear black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. They were asked by the school to remove the armbands but the kids refused to do so. This resulted in the suspension of all three students. Through their guardians, the scholars sued the school region for infringing the scholar’s right of expression and looked for a directive to keep the school from suspending them. The Tinkers took to court. The Tinkers claimed that they were suspended for essentially expressing their views on the war. They thought this move made by the school

The issue of Tinker v. Des Moines ISD was that students were to wear black arm bands to school in protest of the Vietnam War; however the school warned that anyone wearing the armbands would be would be suspended, but the Tinker children wore their armbands to school (they were the only ones of the group to do so) and were suspended leading to Mr. and Mrs. Tinker filing a law suit claiming that the school violated the children's right to freedom of speech and expression. The court ruled against the school district saying that "students do not shed their constitutional rights at the school house gates. In doing so the court protected what has come to be known as "symbolic speech." In the case of Engle v. Vitale, the Supreme Court ruled that prayers in schools were considered unconstitutional, leading to a ban of all prayers led by teachers in school, even if the prayer was considered voluntary, stating, in a way, that there was some sort of “separation of church and state” which is not true. Lastly, New York Times v. Sullivan focused more on the freedom of the press, ruling that “actual malice” must be proven to support a finding of libel against a public figure.

The Vietnam War a time where a lot of American’s believed that American’s shouldn’t have been a part of in the first place. “Tens of thousands of soldiers received dishonorable discharges for desertion, and about 500,000 American men from 1965-73 became “draft dodgers,” with many fleeing to Canada to evade conscription (Vietnam War History).” During that time there were thousands of protestors against the Vietnam War “On November 15, 1969, the largest anti-war protest in American history took place in Washington, D.C., as over 250,000 Americans gathered peacefully, calling for withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam (Vietnam War History).” A case that is known in history forever “Tinker v. Des Moines” case was a very good example of anti-war protest and was proven to be an example of freedom of speech.

In 1965, Mary Beth Tinker and a few other students wore black armbands to school to silently protest the Vietnam war. They were suspended, and later sued the school. They argued that their first amendment right had been violated. After this happened, the US supreme court was determining if this right extends to students on school grounds. The “Tinker Standard” gives students the right to symbolic speech. Today, the “Tinker Standard” continues to be interpreted. For example, the debate about the Confederate flag is still a steamy topic. Some people today still see the Confederate flag as a tribute to their heritage and independence. Others, see the flag of Confederacy at a time where racism was a huge issue and subornation was illegal. To this day a lot of whites still use this flag to show their

"It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." This was the main argument from Justice Abe Fortas that came into play at the Tinker v. Des Moines School District Case of 1969. The case involved a small group of students who silently dissented against the government’s policy during the ongoing Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to school. In response by the school administration, each of those students was suspended from the public schools they attended in Des Moines, Iowa. This case is a prime example of the Constitutionally protected symbolic speech we have

The students spent a lot of time on the newspaper and were upset at the principal for taking the two articles out. They felt that censorship was a violation of their first amendment rights and they took the case to court. The Court disagreed with the students and said that if the school had a good reason to censor

John and Mary Beth Tinker were public school students in December of 1965. They were part of an anti-Vietnam War group. In support of their views they decided to wear black armbands to school. The school heard of this idea and immediately made a policy that any students wearing armbands would be asked to remove them and if they refused, they would be suspended until they agreed to come to school without armbands on. Two days later, the Tinker children and a friend wore black armbands to school. They did not remove their armbands and were suspended. The children returned to school after January 1, 1966, the day that their black armband wearing was supposed to cease. But, their father filed suit in the U.S. District Court, in the suit he asked for a small

Additionally, the issue of Free Speech largely defined the Vietnam War era in the United States. The morality of the war was murky as the U.S. government wants to slow the growth of communism in the Vietnam region in Southeast Asia (Hoffer 2017). A large number of Americans objected the war. In addition, students nationwide protested the injustices they perceived the U.S. government perpetrated. Defined through various lens, the counterculture era had issues such as free speech, the sexual revolution, hippies, and protests. The Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) took place during Vietnam War. It is important to put proper historical significance of the case. The nation’s attitude towards free speech changed and the laws passed during the time reflected it. During World War II, and its immediate aftermath, the In a 6-3 Supreme Court case, W.V.A. v. Barnette (1944) decision related to

The Vietnam War was one of the most hated wars in United States history, for the primary reasons that we did not win and the draft destroyed countless men, physically and mentally. The end result of the war did not justify the means and this made a lot of people very upset. This war was also the most televised war, showing incredibly gruesome, uncensored images on the evening news at dinner time. The political protest for the

The vietnam war was so controversial because it impacted American society so heavily mainly because of the draft. There were 648,500 draftees making up 25 percent of the soldiers in vietnam. That caused high tension because citizens were unwillingly being thrown into a war that they wanted no part of making matters worse some of those draftees never came home to America. Vietnam also changed America's view on foreign involvement for years. As well the economy tanked in the late 60’s due to president Johnson's inability to change taxes until it was too late. Some draftees even went to the extents of mutilating themselves and going to Canada to get out of going to Vietnam. One of the most controversial protests being the Kent State college protest