Tinker v. Des Moines - Grade: A PDF

Preview

Summary

the title of the essay is Tinker V, Des moines and it is a case study of the supreme court case by professor Lopez...

Description

Running head: TINKER V. DES MOINES 1

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District Ardy Isma & Becky Wildenberg University of North Florida, Department of Criminal Justice

TINKER V. DES MOINES

2

Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District was a United States Supreme Court landmark case that took place on November 12, 1968 and was decided on February 24, 1969. This case all began on December of 1965 when a 13 year old junior high school student from Des Moines, Iowa by the name of Mary Beth Tinker decided to organize a protest with a groups of students to share their beliefs against the war on Vietnam. They demonstrated their protest by wearing black armbands. The school administration did not like the idea of students wearing black armbands for the purpose of protesting the Vietnam War in school grounds and the school principal asked all the students to remove their black armbands. When the students refused to remove their armbands, they were suspended from the school and were sent home. They were also told not to come back until they agreed to remove their armbands. Eventually, the students went back to school although, they wore black clothing for the rest of the school year to continue their protest against the Vietnam War. The Tinker family were approached by the Iowa City Liberties Union (ICLU) to file a lawsuit with the support of the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) against the Des Moines school district for violating the rights of student’s freedom of expression which also violated the student’s first amendment rights. To begin with, during the time the students were organizing to protest on school grounds, the Vietnam War was a very unpopular war that the vast majority of citizens were oppose of. There were many people during this time expressing their first amendment right by protesting and expressing their thoughts against the United States involvement in Vietnam. According to the book “Tinker vs. Des Moines” by Doreen Rapport, college students across the country were using their first amendment rights by wearing buttons of the peace symbol to express their

TINKER V. DES MOINES

3

dissatisfaction of the war in Vietnam and during that same year when the students were refused to protest on school grounds, they were over 25,000 protesters that marched in Washington, D.C. against the Vietnam war. When the students from Des Moines, Iowa were refused to protest in the school grounds, it sparked a controversy for not allowing students to express their first amendment rights and brought it to the attention of the United States Supreme Court. Before the Supreme Court decided to take on the landmark case, this issue was first brought to the Des Moines school board where the school board voted in a 5-4 vote in favor of the school decision to ban the students for wearing black armbands to express their beliefs on the war on Vietnam. During the school board decision to continue the ban on armbands on students in school grounds, one of the school board members were reported asking Craig Sawyer who were representing the students from the ICLU “Would you support students wearing Nazis armbands”[ CITATION Rap13 \l 1033 ] and his response to this question was “yes and the cross of the catholic church and an armband saying, Down with the school board” [ CITATION Rap13 \l 1033 ]. According to Nicandro Iannacci from the National Constitution center, the school board president Ora Niffenegger defended the school decision by saying that the ban was a “disciplinary measure” against “disturbing influence” and also continued by saying that “Our country’s leaders have decided on a course of action, and we should support them.” (Niffenegger, 2017). When the school board were not in favor of the students expressing their first amendment right, the Tinker family filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines School District at the United States District Court. In addition, the United States District Court for the southern district of Iowa were also not in favor of the students as chief Judge Roy Stephenson maintained the ban of all students from

TINKER V. DES MOINES

4

the school district for wearing armbands. According to the book “Tinker vs. Des Moines” by Doreen Rapport, the district court ruled that “while armbands may not be disruptive, the reactions from other students would likely have disturbed discipline”[ CITATION Rap13 \l 1033 ]. When the Tinker Family lost their case at the United States District Court, they appealed the court’s decision to the United States courts of appeals. The U.S. court of appeals for the eighth circuit took in the case but were unable to decide on a decision. According to Cornell Law School legal information institute, “the Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, affirmed by an equally divided court” (Cornell Law School, 1992). Since the U.S. court of appeals did not come to a decision, the court case was brought to the United States Supreme Court. Moreover, the case was argued to the United States Supreme Court on November 12, 1968. Dan Johnston was the lawyer arguing on the behalf of the students in the Supreme Court with the support of two other attorneys, Melvin L. Wulf from the ACLU and David N. Ellenhorn. Dan Johnston argued to the Supreme Court that “there was a great difference between minor events that momentarily distract students and harmful disruptions that momentarily distract students and harmful disruptions that interfere with teaching and discipline” [ CITATION Rap13 \l 1033 ]. He also argued that “the right of free speech or the right of demonstration in schools must be weighed against the right of school officials to make reasonable rules to avoid disturbances” [ CITATION Rap13 \l 1033 ]. The Supreme Court took this case because they were going to base their decision if whether or not students were allowed to express their first amendment rights on school grounds. According to the ACLU, the Supreme Court ruled in a 7-2 vote in favor of students being allowed to use their constitutional right of freedom of speech and expression where the Supreme Court saw the arm bands that the students were wearing as a symbol of

TINKER V. DES MOINES

5

expression. Former Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas said that students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." (Niffenegger, 2017).

Finally, this landmark

case allowed students across the country to use their first amendment right on school grounds as long as it does not cause a disturbance to the school such as violence. Today, this court ruling is still being used as a reference to the Supreme Court such as the Morse v. Fredrick case where the court made a decision that allowed students to continue to use their first amendment rights on school grounds.

TINKER V. DES MOINES

6

Works Cited ACLU. (n.d.). TINKER V. DES MOINES - LANDMARK SUPREME COURT RULING ON BEHALF OF STUDENT EXPRESSION. Retrieved from aclu.org: https://www.aclu.org/other/tinker-v-des-moines-landmark-supreme-court-ruling-behalfstudent-expression Niffenegger, O. (2017, Febuary 24). Tinker v. Des Moines: Protecting student free speech. Retrieved from constitutioncenter.org: https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/tinker-v-desmoines-protecting-student-free-speech Rappaport, D. (2013). Tinker Vs. Des Moines: Student Rights on Trial (Be the Judge/Be the Jury). Starwalk Kids Media. School, C. L. (1992). Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School Dist. Retrieved from law.Cornell.edu: https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/393/503

TINKER V. DES MOINES

7

TINKER V. DES MOINES

8

TINKER V. DES MOINES

9

TINKER V. DES MOINES

10...