Tinker v. Des Moines

http://room9ushistory.blogspot.com/2011/01/tinker-v-des-moines.html

• 1965: Mary Beth Tinker, John Tinker, and Chirstopher Eckhart, along with other students of a Des Moines Iowa high school began wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam war. Fearing that this would ensue fights between students with different positions on the war and disrupt their studies, the school board voted to ban the armbands, suspending students who disobeyed. 

• 1966: Stating that the school violated the students' right to Free Speech from the First Amendment, The parents of the Tinkers and of Christopher Eckhart filed a complaint in a U.S. District Court. 

• 1967: The court was divided but ended up siding with the school. Tinker v. Des Moines 1965

• 1968: Students' lawyers appealed the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, argued on November 12th

• 1969: A decision was reached on February 24th. Ruling that the armbands were a form of symbolic free speech, only 2 of the 9 justices had dissenting opinions. Tinker v. Des Moines 1969