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Happy 50th anniversary, Tinker v. Des Moines
Yesterday, but we do what we can.
Since it's the anniversary of Tinker v. Des Moines, just a reminder that @marybtinker was amazing then and still is now. You can hear the squee in my voice the time I got to interview her for the podcast on the case.
Link to tweet
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
Argued: November 12, 1968
Decided: February 24, 1969
Full case name: John F. Tinker and Mary Beth Tinker, minors, by their father and next friend, Leonard Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt, minor, by his father and next friend, William Eckhardt v. The Des Moines Independent Community School District, et al.
Citations: 393 U.S. 503 (more), 89 S. Ct. 733; 21 L. Ed. 2d 731; 1969 U.S. LEXIS 2443; 49 Ohio Op. 2d 222
Holding: The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, did not permit a public school to punish a student for wearing a black armband as an anti-war protest, absent any evidence that the rule was necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others.
Case opinions:
Majority: Fortas, joined by Warren, Douglas, Brennan, White, Marshall
Concurrence: Stewart
Concurrence: White
Dissent: Black
Dissent: Harlan
Laws applied: U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV; 42 U.S.C. § 1983
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined First Amendment rights of students in U.S. public schools. The Tinker test, also known as the "substantial disruption" test, is still used by courts today to determine whether a school's interest to prevent disruption infringes upon students' First Amendment rights.
Background of the case
In 1965, Des Moines, Iowa five students decided to wear black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War and supporting the Christmas Truce called for by Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Among the students were John F. Tinker (15 years old), his siblings Mary Beth Tinker (13 years old), Hope Tinker (11 years old), and Paul Tinker (8 years old), along with their friend Christopher Eckhardt (16 years old). The students wore the armbands to several schools in the Des Moines Independent Community School District (North High School for John, Roosevelt High School for Christopher, Warren Harding Junior High School for Mary Beth, elementary school for Hope and Paul).
The Tinker family had been involved in civil rights activism before the student protest. The Tinker children's mother, Lorena, was a leader of the Peace Organization in Des Moines. Christopher Eckhardt and John Tinker attended a protest the previous month against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C. The principals of the Des Moines schools learned of the plan and met before the incident occurred on December 14 to create a policy that stated that school children wearing an armband would be asked to remove it immediately. Students violating the policy would be suspended and allowed to return to school after agreeing to comply with it. The participants decided to violate this policy. Hope and Paul Tinker were not in violation of the policy, since the policy was not applicable to elementary schools, and were not punished. No violence or disruption was proven to have occurred due to the students wearing the armbands. Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt were suspended from school for wearing the armbands on December 16 and John Tinker was suspended for doing the same on the following day.
Legal precedents and issues
Previous decisions, such as West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, had established that students did have some constitutional protections in public school. This case was the first time that the court set forth standards for safeguarding public school students' free speech rights. This case involved symbolic speech, which was first recognized in Stromberg v. California.
Argued: November 12, 1968
Decided: February 24, 1969
Full case name: John F. Tinker and Mary Beth Tinker, minors, by their father and next friend, Leonard Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt, minor, by his father and next friend, William Eckhardt v. The Des Moines Independent Community School District, et al.
Citations: 393 U.S. 503 (more), 89 S. Ct. 733; 21 L. Ed. 2d 731; 1969 U.S. LEXIS 2443; 49 Ohio Op. 2d 222
Holding: The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, did not permit a public school to punish a student for wearing a black armband as an anti-war protest, absent any evidence that the rule was necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others.
Case opinions:
Majority: Fortas, joined by Warren, Douglas, Brennan, White, Marshall
Concurrence: Stewart
Concurrence: White
Dissent: Black
Dissent: Harlan
Laws applied: U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV; 42 U.S.C. § 1983
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969), was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined First Amendment rights of students in U.S. public schools. The Tinker test, also known as the "substantial disruption" test, is still used by courts today to determine whether a school's interest to prevent disruption infringes upon students' First Amendment rights.
Background of the case
In 1965, Des Moines, Iowa five students decided to wear black armbands to school in protest of the Vietnam War and supporting the Christmas Truce called for by Senator Robert F. Kennedy. Among the students were John F. Tinker (15 years old), his siblings Mary Beth Tinker (13 years old), Hope Tinker (11 years old), and Paul Tinker (8 years old), along with their friend Christopher Eckhardt (16 years old). The students wore the armbands to several schools in the Des Moines Independent Community School District (North High School for John, Roosevelt High School for Christopher, Warren Harding Junior High School for Mary Beth, elementary school for Hope and Paul).
The Tinker family had been involved in civil rights activism before the student protest. The Tinker children's mother, Lorena, was a leader of the Peace Organization in Des Moines. Christopher Eckhardt and John Tinker attended a protest the previous month against the Vietnam War in Washington, D.C. The principals of the Des Moines schools learned of the plan and met before the incident occurred on December 14 to create a policy that stated that school children wearing an armband would be asked to remove it immediately. Students violating the policy would be suspended and allowed to return to school after agreeing to comply with it. The participants decided to violate this policy. Hope and Paul Tinker were not in violation of the policy, since the policy was not applicable to elementary schools, and were not punished. No violence or disruption was proven to have occurred due to the students wearing the armbands. Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt were suspended from school for wearing the armbands on December 16 and John Tinker was suspended for doing the same on the following day.
Legal precedents and issues
Previous decisions, such as West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, had established that students did have some constitutional protections in public school. This case was the first time that the court set forth standards for safeguarding public school students' free speech rights. This case involved symbolic speech, which was first recognized in Stromberg v. California.
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