Tinker Vs Des Moines Case Study

The Tinker v. Des Moines, New Jersey v. T.L.O., and Ingraham v. Wright are just three Supreme Court cases about student rights. The first one, the Tinker v. Des Moines is a case that took place in 1965. The issue of this case was the freedom of speech in school. It all started on one day when John and Mary Beth Tinker along with their friend Chris Eckhardt chose to wear black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam. School officials told them to take off the bands, but they refused. In effect they were suspended from their high school in Des Moines, Iowa. All their parents sued the school district, because they claimed it was a violation of the First amendment, the right of freedom of speech. The significance of this case is having a right to express yourself. The court limited the right of self expression. They limited the right by not giving students unlimited self expression. Another way they limited it was by explaining that if the act of
T.L.O. is a case that argued the right to privacy rights at school. The result of this case was that students belongings can be searched but not for no good reason. Furthermore, the case started when a fourteen year old student at Piscataway High School in New Jersey was caught smoking in a bathroom by a teacher. Once the student was caught her purse was then searched by the teacher. Found in the purse was a pack of cigarettes, rolling papers, and a small amount of marijuana. Because of the belongings discovered by the teacher, police were called in and the fourteen year old student openly admitted to selling drugs on school property. Furthermore, during her trial she was found guilty and was put on probation. However, fourteen year old, Terry argued that the search of her purse was a violation of the fourth amendment, “unreasonable searches and seizures.” This case is a great example of a landmark case because it started the beginning of future decisions regarding searches and seizures at