Mary Beth and John Tinker case.

The Case

• December 16, 1965– Des Moines, Iowa

• 13 year old Mary Beth Tinker

• 16 year old John Tinker– Wore a black armband with a peace symbol on it to

school.» The students were protesting American

involvement in the Vietnam wa

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The Case

• Des Moines officials made the armbands forbidden when they heard the students were going to wear them.– Students wore the arm band anyway

• The parents sued the school because the school denied there children the right to freedom of speech.

– The Tinker’s parents argued that the schools denied their kids the right to freedom of speech.

» They declared the students did not disrupt class.

The State and Local Court’s Decision

• The case first came before a local court– Which said the armband disrupted class.

• The tinkers appealed

• The case then came before the state court.– They ruled the armband disrupted the

learning process and class.• The tinkers appealed

The Supreme Court’s Decision

• The supreme court had to decide what classified as freedom of speech.– They decided armbands were technically a

form of speech. As a type of visual speech.• The justices said that the protest was covered by

the first amendment.

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The Supreme Court

• The court declared– “it can hardly be argued that students or

teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate… students in school as well as out of school are “persons” under our Constitution.”