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Tinker vs. Des Moines

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Tinker Vs. Des Moines

In December 1965, John F. Tinker, fifteen years old, his younger sister Mary Beth Tinker, thirteen years old, and their friend Christopher Eckhardt, sixteen years old, agreed to all wear black armbands to their schools. Mary Beth was in middle school and John and Christopher were in high school. They all wore these armbands to protest against the Vietnam War. They also wore the armbands to support the Christmas Truce called for by Senator Robert F. Kennedy. At the time, the principals of the Des Moines schools made it a policy banning armbands from being worn at school. Students who violated this policy would be suspended and allowed back to school after agreeing to abide by the policy. Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt chose to continue to protest the war and wear their armbands. After a day or so, John joined in also. The kids were asked to take off the armbands by school officials but they refused to do so. All of the students 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 City Liberties Union approached their families, and the ACLU agreed to help the family with the lawsuit from there on. The students' parents also filed a suit in U.S. District Court, which upheld the decision of the Des Moines school board. The votes were tied in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit. This meant that the U.S. District Court's decision continued to stand, and that forced the Tinkers and Eckhardts to appeal the Supreme Court directly. This case was argued on November 12, 1968. The case was decided on February 24, 1969. In a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the students had the right to wear armbands to school to protest the Vietnam War. Justice Abe Fortas wrote for the majority. He first emphasized that students have First Amendment

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