Originating Issue: In the cases of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist. (SCOTUS February 24, 1969), students wore black armbands to school to display their disgust for the Vietnam War. Their efforts were to support the Christmas Truce called for by Senator Robert Kennedy. The principal of the school got wind of the efforts and attempted to put a policy in place about the armbands. The students were asked to remove the armbands by school officials and when the students refused they were suspended. The concern is that the students First Amendment Rights were violated, specifically their free speech. The Des Moines, IA school district argued that the students First Amendment Rights were not violated because their actions created a disruption to the school environment. The parents appealed the school district’s decision through each of the federal courts and ultimately, landed at the US Supreme court. Progression: …show more content…
The jury in the appellate court was divided which meant by default Tinker would have lost the case because the ruling was upheld from the first district court. Soon thereafter, the civil liberties union who was responsible for supporting the activism of the bill of rights picked up the case sending it to SCOTUS. This was a significant case therefore SCOTUS decided to hear the case. Finally, at the SCOTUS hearing, the court sided with Tinker on a 7-2 vote, stating that their rights were violated because there wasn’t any significant distraction to the schools learning environment. Furthermore, this case involved the notion of “pure or symbolic” speech which continues to be a hot topic in society in most recent