Watch Supreme Court Oral Arguments Streaming Online

4th Landmark Case: Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969) Student Symbolic Protest, Freedom of Speech C-SPAN Radio continues its special series of oral arguments from modern landmark cases this Saturday with “John Tinker, et al v. Des Moines Independent Community School District”--a case involving student symbolic protest and freedom of speech. John Tinker, 15 years old, his sister Mary Beth Tinker, 13 years old, and Christopher Echardt, 16 years old, decided, along with their parents, to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black armbands to their Des Moines schools during the 1965 Christmas holiday season. Upon learning of their intentions, and fearing that the armbands would provoke disturbances, the principals of the Des Moines school district resolved that all students wearing armbands be asked to remove them or face suspension. When the Tinker siblings and Christopher wore their armbands to school, they were asked to remove them. When they refused, they were suspended until after New Year's Day. more