Tinker vs. Des Moines School District

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NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________

Primary Source Activity
The Bill of Rights Lesson 1 The First Amendment Free Speech in Public Schools

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What rights do public school students have? This question was at the heart of the 1969 Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines School District. The case began in 1965, when 15-year-old John Tinker and his 13-year-old sister, Mary Beth, wore black armbands to school in Des Moines, Iowa. They wanted to show their opposition to the Vietnam War. School officials asked them to remove the armbands. They refused and were suspended. The students complained that their First Amendment rights to free expression were violated. A district court agreed with the school officials that the ban on armbands was a reasonable measure to maintain school discipline. In a 7–2 decision, the Supreme Court sided with the students. Justice Abe Fortas wrote the majority opinion, explaining the Court’s reasoning. Justice Hugo Black wrote the dissenting opinion, which explained why he disagreed with the majority. Read the excerpts of their opinions and then answer the questions that follow.

Directions: Read the following opinions that debate whether the students’ rights to free expression were violated.

Reading 1 For the students (written by Justice Abe Fortas)
The wearing of an armband for the purpose of expressing certain views is the type of symbolic act that is within the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment. . . . It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate. . . . The District Court concluded that the action of the school authorities was reasonable because it was based upon their fear of a disturbance from the wearing of the armbands. But, in our system, . . . fear . . . of disturbance is not enough to overcome the right to freedom of expression. . . . Any word spoken, in class, in the lunchroom, or on the campus, that

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NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________

Primary Source Activity
The Bill of Rights

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Reading 1 Cont.
deviates [differs] from the views of another person may start an argument or cause a disturbance. But our Constitution says we must take this risk, and our history says that it is this sort of hazardous [dangerous] freedom—this kind of openness—that is the basis of our national strength and of the independence and vigor of Americans. . . . School officials do not possess absolute authority over their students. Students . . . may not be confined to the expression of those sentiments [feelings] that are officially approved. In the absence of a specific showing of constitutionally valid [legal] reasons to regulate their speech, students are entitled to freedom of expression of their views. . . . But conduct by the student, in class or out of it, which . . . materially disrupts classwork or involves substantial disorder or invasion of the rights of others is, of course, not immunized [protected] by the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech. . . . . . . These petitioners [the armband wearers] . . . neither interrupted school activities nor sought to intrude in the school affairs or the lives of others. They caused discussion outside of the classrooms, but no interference with work and no disorder. In the circumstances, our Constitution does not permit officials of the State to deny their form of expression.

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Reading 2 Against the students (written by Justice Hugo Black)
While I have always believed that, under the First and Fourteenth Amendments, neither the State nor the Federal Government has any authority to regulate or censor [suppress] the content of speech, I have never believed that any person has a right to give speeches or engage in demonstrations where he pleases and when he pleases. . . . While the record does not show that any of these armband students shouted, used profane [vulgar] language, or were violent in any manner, . . . I think the record . . . shows that the armbands . . . took the students' minds off their classwork

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NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________

Primary Source Activity
The Bill of Rights

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Reading 2 Cont.
and diverted them to thoughts about the highly emotional subject of the Vietnam war. . . . Public schools . . . are operated to give students an opportunity to learn, not to talk politics by actual speech, or by "symbolic" speech.… Of course, students, like other people, cannot concentrate on lesser issues when black armbands are being ostentatiously [in a showy way] displayed in their presence to call attention to the wounded and dead of the war. … Uncontrolled and uncontrollable liberty is an enemy to domestic peace. We cannot close our eyes to the fact that some of the country's greatest problems are crimes committed by the youth, too many of school age. School discipline, like parental discipline, is an integral and important part of training our children to be good citizens—to be better citizens. Here a very small number of students have crisply and summarily [pointedly] refused to obey a school order. . . . [A]fter the Court's holding today, some students in Iowa schools—and, indeed, in all schools—will be ready, able, and willing to defy their teachers on practically all orders. This is the more unfortunate for the schools since groups of students all over the land are already running loose, conducting break-ins, sitins, lie-ins, and smash-ins. . . . It is nothing but wishful thinking to imagine that young, immature students will not soon believe it is their right to control the schools.

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Analyzing Primary Sources

Directions: Answer the following questions.

1.

According to Justice Fortas, why does wearing an armband qualify as a constitutionally protected right? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

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NAME _______________________________________ DATE _______________ CLASS _________

Primary Source Activity
The Bill of Rights
2. How does each justice support his view of whether the armbands were disruptive? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ 3. What does Justice Fortas identify as the risk and the benefit of protecting free speech? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ 4.

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What concerns does Justice Black express about American students, and how does he think the Court’s decision will affect public schools in the future? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Critical Thinking
5. Drawing Conclusions Do you think the Supreme Court would have ruled differently if the armband protest had involved violence? Use evidence from the excerpts to support your answer. _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________

Copyright © The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

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