Tinker Vs Moines Essay

Words: 491
Pages: 2

Supreme Court case, Tinker v. Des Moines, originated in Iowa on December 1965 where Des Moines resident Christopher Eckhardt, a sixteen year-old, held a meeting with a group of adults and fellow students. Following, it was concluded to publicly show their objections towards the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands during the holiday season and to fast on December 16th as well as New Year’s Eve. Due to this group of protesters growing, principals in the De Moines School District became more aware. They adopted a policy stating “any student wearing an armband to school would be asked to remove it, and, if he refused, he would be suspended until he returned without the armband.” On December 16th, student petitioners, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher …show more content…
They dismissed the complaint and upheld the constitutionality of the school authorities’ actions, stating they were reasonable due to the schools fear of a disturbance from the armbands. The case was then brought to the Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit where they considered the case en banc. Ultimately, the Court of Appeals was equally divided and granted the case certiorari. Then, Tinker v. Des Moines was brought to the Supreme Court on November 12th, 1968. In the Supreme Court, they debated whether the District Court’s ruling, using the First and Fourteenth Amendments, were constitutional or not. The judges stated “In the circumstances, our Constitution does not permit officials of the State to deny their form of expression.” Simply stating, the petitioners were quiet and passive in the act of wearing their armbands. They did not interrupt, nor sought to intrude, school activities, as well as not interfering with other student’s school work. It was determined that the student protester’s actions were within the protection of the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court settled the case based off two