Bergman Memorial Lecture: Freedom of Speech in Schools-Tinker v Des Moines

Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice, Theatre & Rotunda

USD School of Law is holding a reception and panel discussion in honor of Tinker v Des Moines - a 1969 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established students’ First Amendment free-speech rights in public schools.

The case began in 1965, when some Iowa public school students wore black armbands to school in silent protest against the Vietnam War. After being suspended by their principal, the students sued. When their case reached the Supreme Court four years later, the justices decided by a 7-2 majority that the First Amendment did apply to public school students. "It can hardly be argued," Justice Abe Fortas wrote in the majority opinion, "that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate."