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Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
In December 1965, students from Des Moines held a meeting in reverence to a truce in Vietnam War held a public showing in the house of a sixteen year old teenager named Christopher Eckhardt. They decided that they would show their respect by wearing black armbands through out the holiday season. They also decided that they would fast on December 16 and New Years Eve. When the principals of Des Moines’ schools heard of this news, they banned the use of armbands and made a policy which stated any student wearing the apparel would be suspended. On December 16, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt were sent home and suspended as they ignored the policy. John Beth Tinker, another student, did the same thing and was also suspended. The students did not come back to school until after New Years Day.
The children later sued the school, through their parents, on the basis of violating the rights of students. The Supreme Court dismissed the case on the fact that schools had the right to discipline their students.
The Court had a 7-2 decision on the case for the schildren. The Court argued that the students had not lost their freedom of expression or rights when they entered the school. In order to justify the suppression of speech, the school officials proved that the armbands would “materially and substantially interfere” with the operation of the school. The Court upheld [505] the constitutionality of the school authorities' action on the ground that suspension was reasonable in order to prevent disturbance of school discipline
The case started in November 12, 1968 and ended in February 24, 1969. It was an important case because it stated that not all freedoms of expression were allowed and in some situations, they could be prohibited and declared unconstitutional. It also showed that even students had rights to sue their schools which proved the understanding of the constitution even by students.

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