Landmark Supreme Court Decisions Essay -- essays research papers

confines dogmatic Court DecisionsAbout 32 years ago, in December of 1965, a convention of adults and studentsfrom Des Moines, Iowa gathered to show their dislike towards Americaninvolvement in the Vietnam War. They decided to wear black armbands and fast onDecember 16 and 31 to express there point. When the principals of the DesMoines inform System found out their plans, they decided to suspend anyone whotook part in this fount of protest. On December 16 - 17 three Tinker siblingsand several of their friends were suspended for wearing the armbands. All ofthem did not return to school until after sore Years Day. Acting finished theirparents, the Tinkers and some other students went to the Federal District Court,asking for an injunction to be issued by Iowa. This court refused the idea,forcing them to take the possibility to the dogmatic Court. After hearing their case,the Supreme Court agreed with the Tinkers. They said that wearing blackarmbands was a silent form of express ion and that students do not corroborate to giveup their maiden Amendment adjusts at school. This landmark Supreme Court case wasknown as Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District.From the case of Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. School Board obviously camesome conflicting viewpoints about the armbands. The school wit said that noone has the absolute right to emancipation of expression, where the Tinkers said that just banning armbands and not other political symbols was unconstitutional. Theschool board said that the armbands were disruptive to the learning environment,where the Tinkers said they were not. Finally, the school board said that orderin the classroom, where political contr all oversy should be discussed, is entitledto constitutional protection. The Tinkers believed that the armbands were wornas the students views, and therefore should be constitutionally protected and view by the school. These were all meaning(a) arguments in the case.Personally, I agree with the Supreme Courts decision to uphold the 1stAmendment rights of the students in school. Why shouldnt students have thesame rights as other people? If the students wore raunchy clothing, ran out ofclassrooms, or set the school on fire in protest of the war, then yes, I couldsee disciplinary actio... ...chool districts.In contrast, the time periods in which these cases took place were verydifferent. In the 1960s, the war in Vietnam was going on, and there were a lotof controversial issues and viewpoints facing students at schools. In the1980s, the war was over and there werent as many controversial issuessurrounding students rights. One case involved emancipation of expression through and through aschool newspaper, the other through articles of clothing, but the majordifference between the two cases were the decisions made by the U.S. SupremeCourt. They agreed with the Tinkers in the thought that freedom of expressionthrough armbands was okay. However, they disagreed with Cathy Kuh lmeiersbelief in freedom of expression through a so-called public forum.As a student, I believe that freedom of expression is one of our to the highest degreeimportant rights. Without this right people wont know who we are they wontunderstand our generation. Because of the many different definitions of freedomof expression, people will evermore be in argumentation over them. Lets hope thatour school district never faces a problem as big as the ones presented in thispaper. Landmark Supreme Court Decisions Essay -- essays research papers Landmark Supreme Court DecisionsAbout 32 years ago, in December of 1965, a group of adults and studentsfrom Des Moines, Iowa gathered to show their dislike towards Americaninvolvement in the Vietnam War. They decided to wear black armbands and fast onDecember 16 and 31 to express there point. When the principals of the DesMoines School System found out their plans, they decided to suspend anyone whotook part in this type of protest . On December 16 - 17 three Tinker siblingsand several of their friends were suspended for wearing the armbands. All ofthem did not return to school until after New Years Day. Acting through theirparents, the Tinkers and some other students went to the Federal District Court,asking for an injunction to be issued by Iowa. This court refused the idea,forcing them to take the case to the Supreme Court. After hearing their case,the Supreme Court agreed with the Tinkers. They said that wearing blackarmbands was a silent form of expression and that students do not have to giveup their 1st Amendment rights at school. This landmark Supreme Court case wasknown as Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District.From the case of Tinker v. Des Moines Ind. School Board obviously camesome conflicting viewpoints about the armbands. The school board said that noone has the absolute right to freedom of expression, where the Tinkers said thatonly banning armbands and not other political symbols was unconstitutional. Theschool board said that the armbands were disruptive to the learning environment,where the Tinkers said they were not. Finally, the school board said that orderin the classroom, where political controversy should be discussed, is entitledto constitutional protection. The Tinkers believed that the armbands were wornas the students views, and therefore should be constitutionally protected andrespected by the school. These were all important arguments in the case.Personally, I agree with the Supreme Courts decision to uphold the 1stAmendment rights of the students in school. Why shouldnt students have thesame rights as other people? If the students wore obscene clothing, ran out ofclassrooms, or set the school on fire in protest of the war, then yes, I couldsee disciplinary actio... ...chool districts.In contrast, the time periods in which these cases took place were verydifferent. In the 1960s, the war in Vietnam was going on, and there were a lotof controversial issues and viewpoints facing students at schools. In the1980s, the war was over and there werent as many controversial issuessurrounding students rights. One case involved freedom of expression through aschool newspaper, the other through articles of clothing, but the majordifference between the two cases were the decisions made by the U.S. SupremeCourt. They agreed with the Tinkers in the belief that freedom of expressionthrough armbands was okay. However, they disagreed with Cathy Kuhlmeiersbelief in freedom of expression through a so-called public forum.As a student, I believe that freedom of expression is one of our mostimportant rights. Without this right people wont know who we are they wontunderstand our generation. Because of the many different definitions of freedomof expression, people will always be in controversy over them. Lets hope thatour school district never faces a problem as big as the ones presented in thispaper.