Abe Fortas

In the Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines, the Tinkers were suing because they believed that their school violated their first amendment right to freedom of speech. This case was decided in 1969 under the Warren Court with a 7-2 decision. Three of the Tinker children and one of their friends wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. Just before the children did this, the school made a rule against protesting the Vietnam War. When the children went to school with the…

The case of “Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent Community School District 393 U.S 503” took place in 1969, was argued November 12, 1968, and with the decided date being February 24, 1969. The petitioners were Christopher and Mary Beth Eckhardt, and John Tinker. In 1965, the children's ages were as follows: Mary Beth was 13 years old, John was 15, and Christopher, the oldest, was 16. John and Christopher were high school students, and Mary was a junior high student. The case was argued because of…

Why Students have the Freedom to Undisrupted Speech in Schools A protest influenced a major Supreme Court case. The protest occurred in “November 1965, about [one-hundred and forty] anti-Vietnam War groups staged a ‘march on Washington,’ which drew an estimated twenty-five thousand participants” (Johnson 1). This compelled John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt, to take a stand against the Vietnam War. The Tinker’s and Eckhardt protest reached the Supreme Court, on claims to the…

Freedom of speech is a river that gives sustenance to the people along its banks so that they may grow independent and strong. Without the freedoms given to citizens in the first amendment, no one would be able to express their opinions and ideas about anything. Added to the constitution in 1789, the Bill of Rights gives us civil liberties and prevents the government from having too much power. According to the first amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…

injunction to prevent the school district from disciplining the students” (Tinker v. DesMoines Independent Community School District). However, the district courts quickly dismissed the case. Later it was brought before the Supreme Court, where Justice Abe Fortas delivered an opinion of seven to two majorities. The Supreme Court stated that the students did not lose the First Amendment right to free of speech when they are on school grounds. However, to justify the suppression of speech, school…

During December 1965, a group of students at Warren Harding Junior High School in Des Moines School District gathered in the home of 16-year-old Christopher Eckhardt to plan a public display of their support for a truce in the Vietnam war. During this time, nearly 60,000 people had died as a result of the Vietnam war. As a group, the students decided to wear black armbands on December 16 and again on New Year's Eve. The principal of the Des Moines school learned of the plan and met with other…

This is illustrated by the Justice Abe Fortas, “There is much evidence that some juvenile courts... lack the personnel, facilities and techniques to perform adequately as representatives of the state in a parens patriae capacity, at least with respect to children charged with law violation”…

treated as an aid for learning more about various cultures and groups of people, studying religious holidays can offer understanding and respect for the different students that make up a multicultural classroom. If we never teach our students about other people and how they believe, our students will grow up ignorant and have a very slim worldview of what they believe to be completely correct. We need to open their eyes to the gray area and refuse for future generations to have hate fueled by…

“Gravity explains the motions of the planets, but it cannot explain who sets the planets in motion.” (Isaac Newton) This takes place among the most basic argument that arises when discussing religious fundamental beliefs. An idea that, since no absolute proof of our origin has shown, we must come from an intelligent source, because something did not come from nothing. Consistently perpetuating as a powerful way of thought, disputed throughout history many individuals dying and persecuted as a…