Tinker Vs Moines Case Study

Tinker vs. Des Moines In 1965, a group of students including John and Mary Tinker decided to wear black armbands to school in protest of America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. When the principals in the school district heard about their plan, fearing disruption due to the protest, they made a new rule prohibiting armbands at all the schools in the district. This caused some of the kids to change their minds about wearing the armbands, but not John and Mary. They wore the armbands to school, and when they were asked to remove them, they refused. They were suspended until they could return to school without armbands. On New Years’ Day, 1966, they came back to school peacefully, but filed a lawsuit against the schools with their parents. First they went to the district court, which dismissed the case and said that the schools’ actions were reasonable because a protest could cause disruption in classes (Oyez). Then they went to the U.S. Court of Appeals, with no success. Finally, they submitted their case to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case. …show more content…
Opinion of the Court (Justice Abe Fortas)

The court decided in favor of the Tinkers, 7 to 2. They said that the armbands represented speech and should not be suppressed. If the schools wanted to do that, they said, they needed to provide proof that said speech would be “materially and substantially” interfering with the learning process (Oyez), and that simply fearing disruption is not enough to strip students of their First

Amendment rights. The justices that agreed with the majority were Justices Warren, Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, White, Fortas, and Marshall (Oyez).

Concurring Opinions (Justices Stewart and