Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
| Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued November 12, 1968 Decided February 24, 1969 | |
| Full case name | John F. Tinker and Mary Beth Tinker, minors, by their father and next friend, Leonard Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt, minor, by his father and next friend, William Eckhardt v. The Des Moines Independent Community School District, et al. |
| Citations | 393 U.S. 503 (more) 89 S. Ct. 733; 21 L. Ed. 2d 731; 1969 U.S. LEXIS 2443; 49 Ohio Op. 2d 222 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Plaintiff's complaint dismissed, 258 F.Supp. 971 (S.D. Iowa 1966); affirmed, 383 F.2d 988 (8th Cir. 1967); certiorari granted, 390 U.S. 942 (1968) |
| Subsequent | None on record |
| Holding | |
| The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, did not permit a public school to punish a student for wearing a black armband as an anti-war protest, absent any evidence that the rule was necessary to avoid substantial interference with school discipline or the rights of others. Eighth Circuit reversed and remanded. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Fortas, joined by Warren, Douglas, Brennan, White, Marshall |
| Concurrence | Stewart |
| Concurrence | White |
| Dissent | Black |
| Dissent | Harlan |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV; 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | |
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969) was a decision by the United States Supreme Court that defined the constitutional rights of students in U.S. public schools. The Tinker test is still used by courts today to determine whether a school's disciplinary actions violate students' First Amendment rights.
Background of the case
In 1965, Des Moines, Iowa residents John F. Tinker (15 years old), John's younger sister Mary Beth Tinker (13 years old), and their friend Christopher Eckhardt (16 years old) decided to wear black armbands to their schools (high school for John and hristopher, junior high for Mary Beth) in protest of the Vietnam War and supporting the Christmas Truce called for by Senator Robert F. Kennedy. The principals of the Des Moines schools adopted a policy banning the wearing of armbands to school. Violating students would be suspended and allowed to return to school after agreeing to comply with the policy. Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt chose to violate this policy, and the next day John Tinker also did so. All were suspended from school until after January 1, 1966, when their protest had been scheduled to end.
A suit was not filed until after the Iowa Civil Liberties Union approached their family, and the ACLU agreed to help the family with the lawsuit. Their parents, in turn, filed suit in U.S. District Court, which upheld the decision of the Des Moines school board. A tie vote in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit meant that the U.S. District Court's decision continued to stand, and forced the Tinkers and Eckhardts to appeal to the Supreme Court directly. The case was argued before the court on November 12, 1968.
Subsequent jurisprudence
Tinker remains a viable and frequently-cited Court precedent, though subsequent Court decisions have determined limitations on the scope of student free speech rights. In Bethel School District v. Fraser, a 1986 case, the Supreme Court held that a high school student's sexual innuendo–laden speech during a student assembly was not constitutionally protected. Though Fraser applies the Tinker test of disruption to school decorum, if not undermining of educational mission, the effect is to make an exception to Tinker for "indecent" speech. Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, where the court ruled that schools have the right to regulate, for legitimate educational reasons, the content of non-forum, school-sponsored newspapers, also limits Tinker's application. The Court in Hazelwood clarified that both Fraser and Hazelwood were decided under the doctrine of Perry Education Association v. Perry Local Educators Association. Such a distinction keeps undisturbed the Material Disruption doctrine of Tinker, while deciding certain student free speech cases under the Nonpublic Forum doctrine of Perry. In Morse v. Frederick, the so-called "Bong Hits For Jesus" case of 2007, the Court held that schools may, consistent with the First Amendment, restrict student speech at a school-sponsored event, even those events occurring off school grounds, when that speech is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use. In 2013, the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit re-heard a case that had been argued before a panel of its judges, considering whether a charitable effort - a breast cancer awareness drive - impermissibly disrupts a middle school by distributing bracelets imprinted "I ♥ Boobies."[1]
See also
- Freedom of speech
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 393
- Schenck v. United States, 249 U.S. 47 (1919)
- Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15 (1973)
- Broussard v. School Board of Norfolk
- Morse v. Frederick (2007)
- Gillman v. Holmes County School District (2008)
References
- ^ "'I ♥ Boobies' Case Heard En Banc by Third Circuit". The Legal Intelligencer. February 21, 2013. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
External links
Works related to Tinker v. Des Moines School District at Wikisource
- Text of Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District , 393 U.S. 503 (1969) is available from: Findlaw Justia
- First Amendment Library entry on Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District
- Schema-root.org: Tinker v. Des Moines John Tinker's page about Tinker v. Des Moines. Contains a current news feed.
- Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. Comm. School Dist. Oyez.org
- John Tinker and Kenneth Starr discuss student rights Nov 12, 2008, 45 minute radio show, MP3.
[[Category:Cases related to the American Civil Li