Woman in landmark ruling still fighting for free speech

[struggle4progress]

Posted on Mon, Sep. 25, 2006
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio - ...

Mary Beth Tinker wonders whether the U.S. Supreme Court case that bears her name would be won if filed in 2006 ...

Tinker was a 13-year-old middle school student in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1965 when she, her brother and several friends wore black armbands to school to support a Christmas truce in Vietnam. She and others were later suspended.

In a 1969 decision, Tinker v. Des Moines School District, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the rights of the students, saying school officials had to allow them to wear the armbands as a matter of free speech.

Justice Abe Fortas wrote the majority opinion, which declared that neither students nor teachers "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." ...

http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/15601903.htm