Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969), is a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court.

In 1965, John Tinker (15), Mary Beth Tinker (13), and Christopher Eckhardt (16) wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The school district had adopted a policy banning armbands and suspended the students when they refused to remove them. The students argued the policy violated their First Amendment rights.

Significance

Justice Fortas’s 7-2 opinion upheld the students’ right to engage in symbolic political speech in public schools. The Court famously declared that students do not ‘shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.’ School officials could restrict speech only if it would ‘materially and substantially interfere’ with school operations. The decision remains the leading precedent on student free speech rights, though later cases (Morse v. Frederick, 2007) have carved out exceptions for drug-related speech.

Category

US Federal Case Law