Mr. Justice FORTAS delivered the opinion of the Court. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District MR. JUSTICE BLACK, dissenting. Tinker v. Des Moines is a historic Supreme Court ruling from 1969 that cemented students’ rights to free speech in public schools.Mary Beth Tinker was a 13-year-old junior high school student in December 1965 when she and a group of students decided to wear black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam.
. No. 21. CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS. The 1969 Supreme Court case of Tinker v. Des Moines found that freedom of speech must be protected in public schools, provided the show of expression or opinion—whether verbal or symbolic—is not disruptive to learning. Argued November 12, 1968. Allan A. Herrick, Des Moines, Iowa, for respondents.

Tinker v. Des Moines Sch. FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT. Petitioners, three public school pupils in Des Moines, Iowa, were suspended from school for wearing black armbands to protest the Government's policy in Vietnam. Justice Fortas wrote the majority opinion, ruling that students retain their constitutional right of freedom of speech while in public school. In the Tinker v. Des Moines Supreme Court case, the dissenting opinion is best summarized by statement ' B. The idea of such "symbolic speech" had been developed in previous 20th-century cases, including Stromberg v.California (1931) and West Virginia v.Barnette (1943). Tinker v. Des Moines: Summary of the Decision. The school board got wind of the protest and passed a preemptive

MR. JUSTICE FORTAS delivered the opinion of the Court. Key to the court's decision in Tinker was the recognition that some actions and gestures, though not "pure speech," serve the same purpose as spoken or written words. The Court's holding in this case ushers in what I deem to be an entirely new era in which the power to control pupils by the elected "officials of state supported public schools .
- Court opinions ... - Protest and dissent ... Tinker et al. Decided February 24, 1969. ." Case background and primary source documents concerning the Supreme Court case of Tinker v.Des Moines.Dealing with students rights and the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, this lesson asks students to evaluate the extent to which the First Amendment should protect symbolic speech, and the degree to which that protection should be guaranteed to students in public schools. Dan Johnston, Des Moines, Iowa, for petitioners.