Tinker v. Des Moines School District

Beginning: High school students, John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt attended a march to protest the Government’s policy in Viet Nam with their parents in Des Moines, Iowa. They decided to wear black armbands to school for the month of December to continue their protest and had several students at the school join with them. The principal of the high school told them to take off the arm bands, he contended some of the families at the school had sons who were soldiers in Viet Nam and the arm bands would upset them. Most of the students took off the armbands, but the Tinker’s and Edkhardt refused to take off the arm bands, stating, “This is what we believe; the war is morally wrong”. The principal suspended the students from school. This event “hit” the evening news, and members of the community had mixed views.

Middle: The students contended that wearing the armband was a form of expression protected by the First Amendment. The conflict over the suspension was taken to the local school board who upheld the ban imposed by the principal and the suspension of the students who refused to remove the armbands. The students filed a lawsuit claiming that the school district was violating their First Amendment rights of free speech.

The case was presented to the U.S. District Court. The school district argued that their duty was to keep disturbances from occurring on the school site and that the wearing of the armbands was upsetting to the community. The Tinker’s sited the First Amendment to the Constitution, which allowed them freedom of speech. The court dismissed the complaint of the students and sided with the school board on the ground that the regulation to not wear the armbands was within the School Board’s power. The court upheld the school’s suspension of the students. The case was taken to the Appeals Court who sided with the district court.

End: The case was then taken to the U.S. Supreme Court. Students were seeking nominal damages and an injunction against the regulation banning the wearing of armbands. The Supreme Court held:

1) In wearing armbands, the petitioners were quiet and passive. They were not disruptive and did not impinge upon the rights of others. In these circumstances, their conduct was within the protection of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth.

2) First Amendment rights are available to teachers and students, subject to application in light of the special characteristics of the school environment.

3) A prohibition against expression of opinion, without any evidence that the rule is necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others, is not permissible under the First and Fourteenth Amendments.

The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution was adopted on July 9, 1868 as one of the Reconstruction Amendments.

Its Citizenship Clause provides a broad definition of citizenship that overruled the decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), which held that blacks could not be citizens of the United States.

Its Due Process Clause prohibits state and local governments from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without certain steps being taken to ensure fairness. This clause has been used to make most of the Bill of Rights applicable to the states, as well as to recognize substantive and procedural rights.

Its Equal Protection Clause requires each state to provide equal protection under the law to all people within its jurisdiction. This clause was the basis for Brown v. Board of Education (1954), the Supreme Court decision which precipitated the dismantling of racial segregation in the United States.

The amendment also includes a number of clauses dealing with the Confederacy and its officials.

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law "respecting an establishment of religion", impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

Originally, the First Amendment applied only to laws enacted by the Congress. However, starting with Gitlow v. New York, 268 U.S. 652 (1925), the Supreme Court has held that the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies the First Amendment to each state, including any local government.

Public Interest Overrides Free Speech in Some Cases:

Fighting words

Clear and present danger

Obscenity

Conflict with other legitimate social or governmental interests

Time, place and manner