Tinker Case Summary

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Out of all the cases we looked at, the Tinker case from 1969 expanded the students 1st Amendment right to freedom of speech the most. The Tinker case was the first well-known case that expanded students' rights to free speech. The Tinker case expanded students' right to free speech by showing that freedom of speech through symbolism is still freedom of speech. One argument in favor of Tinker is that “Wearing the armbands” was a form of speech. Even though the students did not use words, their actions (wearing the armbands) expressed their opinions about the war” (Case Summary Middle School Level). This expanded students' 1st Amendment rights because it added a section to what falls under freedom of speech. The Tinker case gave students more …show more content…
This means that the school cannot suppress certain students' point of view just because it seems like the “wrong” point of view. This supports the claim because it helps to give equality to student speech in school, which, in some cases, doubles the amount of opinions being heard. Another addition to the students rights, shown in the Tinker case, was that students' rights do not disappear upon entry to a school. When the majority made their statement, they said that “it can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” (Unit 6 Slide, Majority Opinion). This helped to expand students' 1st Amendment freedom of speech rights because it showed that those rights still apply to all the students within the building just as much as they apply to the students outside the premises. This expanded students' 1st Amendment rights greatly because it gave students more time and places where they could freely express themselves without having to worry about consequences from the

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