Freedom Of Speech: Tinker V. Des Moines

This case Tinker v. Des Moines Schools was a very interesting case argued in 1968. A lawsuit was filed against the school after three students, Two of which in high school and one in middle school were suspended from school. The school suspended the students for wearing black armbands protesting the Vietnam war. Two other students wore armbands, but were in elementary school and weren't suspended. The students were fifteen year old John Tinker, sixteen year old Christopher Eckhardt, and thirteen year old Mary Beth Tinker.

This case was extremely important and made is so children of all races could attend the same schools. This decision affected the Criminal Justice system as well as society as a whole and allows people to live they way they do

A landmark Supreme Court case known as Tinker v. Des Moines was argued on November 12, 1968 and decided on February 24, 1969. The parties involved in the case where the plaintiff, the Tinker family and the defendant, the Des Moines Independent Community School District located in Des Moines, Iowa. The issue or focus of the case was the extent of the first amendment to students on school grounds and whether or not the school district acted in accordance to the constitution when prohibiting the use of armbands as a symbol of speech. Petitioner John F. Tinker, his sister, Mary Beth Tinker, and his friend, Christopher Eckhardt, attended public schools in Des Moines, Iowa where they wore black armbands as a symbol of protest against the government’s policy or involvement in the Vietnam War. The Des Moines School District had become aware of the planned protest and created a policy against it on the 14th of December.

The Tinker V. Des Moines had a huge impact on history and school districts. Des Moines was community school district. The Tinker’s were a family that attended it. There were two children from the Tinker family that attended Des Moines and they are John F. Tinker and his sister Mary B. Tinker. They were suspended for protesting.

Kuhlmeier (1988) and Tinker v. Des Moines School District (1969). Which implies that schools must set high standards for their students’ speech as long as it is disseminated under their auspice and reasonably related to legitimate pedagogical concerns. If a student poses a distraction that impacts other students’ ability to learn and perform, the school has the duty and right to discipline that particular student. In the case of Colleen Copernica v. Jane Skinner, Colleen feels that he has the right to kneel during the National Anthem during a football game, which he feels is his form of Free Speech, due to Morse v. Frederick (2007). Which extended the first amendment right to student speech, and states that punishing a student because of their message.

The Tinker versus Des Moines court case involved three minors, John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhart. These three wore black armbands to their schools to protest the Vietnam War and were suspended following this action. Circuit courts and the Court of Appeals in Iowa ruled that the black armbands were inappropriate attire for school. This case was then brought to a higher-up court. Eventually, this case was brought before the Supreme Court.

To understand the question, focusing on the court cases of Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education, we must first understand each court case on its own. Plessy v. Ferguson resulted in the year 1896. The case involved the 1890s Louisiana law that basically stated that there were separate railway carriages that were specifically labeled for blacks only and whites only. Plessy v. Ferguson involved Homer Plessy, who was seven-eighths white and one-eighth black and appeared to look like a white man. Plessy took an open seat in a white only railway car.

The American Civil Liberties Union or better known as the ACLU has been around for almost a hundred years know. The ACLU derived from the National Civil Liberties Bureau which was co-founded in 1917 during the World War 1 by an attorney activist Crystal Eastman, and Roger Nash Baldwin. The focus of the CLB was on primarily anti-was speech, freedom of speech, and on supporting people who did not want to serve in World War 1. Now, during the time of November 1919 and January 1920 there were raids called the “Palmer Raids.” An attorney general by the name of Mitchell Palmer began rounding up and deporting people.

The reformation of civil rights and societal norms during the mid-twentieth century was a monumental moment in American history. From racial desegregation, to women breaking away from a male dominate society; they all have contributed to the liberalism and diversity of present day America.

Gathercoal (2001) reminds school leaders that the Supreme Court has upheld schools may limit an individual’s right to an education if they violate one of four underlying responsibilities. Students right to an education can be limited if they willfully cause property loss or damage. They must follow rules which have a legitimate educational purpose. Students rights can also be limited if they pose a health and safety risk to themselves or others. Finally students may not cause a serious disruption to the educational process.

The days after the case were filled with loud, angry, determined crowds and were intensified in loneliness. Peaceful protests were applauded in some places, and others were brought with violence. Many people were hurt or even dead in the end of all of it. Students, civil rights protesters, workers, and other innocent people were beaten, hosed, jailed, and/or even killed. Even after all of those harsh struggles and events, the positives finally surfaced.

During the civil rights movement, for example, the Supreme Court upheld the rights of several groups of individuals protesting segregation at public institutions such as libraries and schools, and ruled that these citizens had every right to express their rights under the petition clause” (American Bar Association). So, the Supreme Court once again says that it is an inalienable right, that according to the petition clause, citizens have every right to complain about something if they see that it is not fair and that even in the civil rights movement they confirmed it in front of all the

To the ACLU the case was more about the limiting or not being allowed to teach something that was the issue they had a problem with. The ACLU believed that “a systematic assault on personal liberty in the United States began during the

I A. B. Cantwell v Connecticut (1940) D. Jesse Cantwell and his son going door to door in their neighborhood talking badly to people about the religion of catholicism which lead to two people becoming angry. This leads to the Cantwells being arrested for breaking a local ordinance that requires a permit for solicitation and also for encouraging an infraction of the peace E. Were the Cantwells first amendment free speech rights violated when they were religious views were suppressed and did they encourage an infraction of the peace or not. F.The court ruled that you could restrict general solicitation but you could not put limitation based on religion and that if you did so it would be trying to silence someone's views.

"“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance”. So are the exact words of the First Amendment in the Bill of Rights. Clearly, all Americans, even back in the 1700s, believed in basic human rights and protections of speech. Now, understandably, times have changed. When the founders mentioned freedom of speech, they were thinking more along the lines of the press and of a soapbox on a sidewalk. Now, freedom of speech has evolved from the soapbox to the keyboard.