Court Case: The Mary Beth Tinker Case

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On Monday July 22, 1965 Mary Beth Tinker and her siblings sat in front of a judge and jury to plead their case. Scared and shaking she sat next to her attorney trying to muster up bavery. Her brother, John, was the first to give his testimony. John testified that he had made it through several periods where none of his classmates or any of the faculty had said anything to him about the black armband. It was not until after lunch that John was asked to go to the principal 's office where he refused to remove his band and wass promptly removed from school. All students who were tried testified that they were asked to remove their armbands and refused but Mary Beth Tinker. Tinker testified that she made it through several of her classes with no issue and when finally asked to remove the black armband she agreed nervously afraid of the …show more content…

Anxiously on the day of Thursday, September 1, 1966 the Tinkers filed back into court to hear the verdict. Sadly the Tinkers did not hear what they wanted to. The judge ruled in favor for the defendants saying that it was constitutionally justified that the school was allowed to ban the armbands. Students rights were pushed out the door again but Mary Beth Tinker would not stop. Mary Beth Tinker and her other siblings would not settle for this decision they knew this was constitutionally wrong and would not stop till they got what they knew was right. In 1969 the case was taken to the supreme court where it would be battled out once again. Armed with curiosity and bravery Tinker entered the supreme court where she recalls “...I as awed by the whole situation mostly the Justices sitting in the front with their black robes...it was a stressful time… I have always felt honored that the supreme court head our case, as they hear less than 1% of the cases appealed to