Abe Fortas

regulation was adopted. […] [Additionally,] A former student of one of our high schools was killed in Vietnam. Some of his friends are still in school. It was felt that if any kind of a demonstration existed, it might evolve into something which would be difficult to control” (Sergi). Justice Marshall responded in what was thought to be an aggressive manner (Shackelford 382). When Herrick claimed that the armbands could make a disturbance, Justice Marshall asked if “the school board was afraid that seven students wearing armbands would disrupt eighteen thousand [people]” (Shackelford 382; Sergi). The Supreme Court voted 7-2 with the Tinkers winning the case, which reversed the ruling from the district court (Shackleford 382; Sergi). Justice Abe Fortas was entrusted with writing the majority opinion (“Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District”). He talked about how “[i]t can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate” (“Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District”). He additionally talked about how “undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression” as well as how “state-operated schools may not be enclaves of totalitarianism” (“Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District”). Also, Justice Fortice talked about how the worry of a disturbance was not why the school placed…

Armbands After reading and analyzing the article “Armbands” I can infer that both Justice Hugo Black and chief justice and Fortas had compelling arguments on whether or not the students should not be prohibited on school ground on one hand justice Abe Fortas believes that certain kinds of speech should not be prohibited within an educational setting and on the other hand justice Hugo black argues that certain kinds of speech should be prohibited in an educational setting Justice Abe Fortas…

rules in Florida about appointing an attorney to only capital cases. While in jail, Gideon wrote a handwritten letter to the United States Supreme Court claiming that he was convicted in violation of his constitutional rights; all the justices regard this letter as an appeal and decided to take it into their own hands furthermore. Since Gideon was petitioning a writ of habeas corpus against the prison, and Wainwright was the head of the Florida prisons, he was then determined the defendant. In…

breaking and entering and minor stealing. In the book we find a detailed account of the story of a man that managed to become a constitutional landmark. The book is set in the 1960’s in the beautiful state of Florida. The scenery is always in a courtroom or Gideon’s Jail cell. The setting is set in a time period where there civil unrests existed in equality. The book presents to the reader the story of Clarence Earl Gideon who was a petty thief previously. He conserved his documentation by…

The ruling, which occurred during the Vietnam War, granted the students the right to express their political opinions as long as they did not disrupt the classroom. Their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights could not be restricted based on a “general fear of disruption,” which is what the administration argued. According to Justice Fortas, who wrote the majority opinion, the protest was a “silent, passive expression of opinion.” Though a few hostile comments had been made to the students who…

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…

In 1965, President Johnson appointed his personal attorney Abe Fortas as an associate justice to the Court. The account given in Courtwatchers describes President Johnson “strong-arming” Fortas into accepting the nomination for an associate justice seat. Although, Fortas had reservations about accepting the nomination, he continued to provide President Johnson with legal advice, counseled him on political issues, and wrote some of his speeches. Luckily, though no president since has placed a…

that the school board met on Dec. 14, to discuss the possibility of students wearing armbands at school. This meeting occurred two days before the Tinker children and Eckhardt wore their black armbands to school. The school board believed that since the students were wearing the armbands, in clear defiance of the recent addition to the dress code, many students would redirect their focus from their lessons and focus on the controversies surrounding the Vietnam War. This view believes that the…

continued to wear political campaign buttons and Nazi symbols,” (Barbarosh). In the ensuing court battle, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that as the armbands did not significantly interfere with the operation of the school, nor the teaching of classes, the policy prohibiting them was a violation of the student’s constitutional rights to freedom of expression. According to the ruling in Tinker, the school authorities must be able to “forecast substantial disruption of or … interference with…

Tinker v. Des Moines case Complete Citation Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969) Parties Involved in the Case John F. Tinker, fifteen years old, his younger sister Mary Beth Tinker, thirteen years old, and their friend Christopher Eckhardt, sixteen years old. Date and Place Where the Case Was Tried This case was contended on November 12, 1968. The court was chosen February 24, 1969. In a 7-2 choice, the Supreme Court decided that the…