Should Students Be Allowed To Wear Black Armbands To School?

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Black Armbands

Would you ever think a case about students wearing black armbands, would go all the way to the Supreme Court? Justice Abe Fortas and Justice Hugo Black have different points of view on the argument about if students should be allowed to wear black armbands to school. Justice Abe Fortas believes that students have freedom of speech, while Justice Hugo Black believes that certain kinds of speech should be prohibited. Justice Abe Fortas presumes that the wearing of black armbands by the students is not disrupting the school, and that the protest is protected by the constitutional right of freedom of speech. The author included, “There is here no evidence whatever of petitioners’ interference, actual or nascent, with the schools work or of collision with the right of other students to be secure and to be let alone” (paragraph 3). Hugo states that the school district cannot ban students from wearing black armbands until disruption takes place in school. They
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The author also wrote, “In the present case, the District Court made no such finding, and our independent examination of the record fails to yield evidence that the school authorities had reason to anticipate that the wearing of the armbands would substantially interfere with the work of the school or impinge upon the rights of other students” (paragraph 6). Abe Fortas states that there was not enough evidence from the school district that black armbands are disruptive. The students that are protesting are silently doing so, and are not found to be causing any harm to the school. The School District has no right to suspend the students wearing the armbands until disruption has occurred and they have reason to do so. The author reveals “But, in our system, undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression” (paragraph 4). Justice Abe Fortas