The Decision

Following the arguments presented on November 12^th, 1968, the Supreme Court went into conference and debated the issue behind closed doors, as well as other issues argued around the same time and the future calendar. Then on February 24^th, 1969 in a 7-2 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Tinkers, saying that they did indeed have the right to wear the black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. It was the opinion of the Court that even though the school environment does mean that a student’s speech is limited, it does mean that they leave every right behind upon entering the school. They also extended these constitutional rights to the teachers and that if a school is going to regulate their rights, they need to have a constitutional reason beyond trying to avoid discomfort and raised tempers. Furthermore, it must be a substantial disturbance they are trying to prevent and it must apply evenly to similar forms of speech. ( In the Tinker case, the Court found that the policy was specifically targeting armbands and not any other politically charged garments or fixtures that could have caused similar issues.) The opinion was written by Justice Abe Fortas.

There were also two dissenting opinions given by Justices Black and Harland. Black dissented because he felt that symbolic speech was not protected by the Constitution and therefore the school system had the right to ban it as it saw fit. He also believed that free speech should be restricted to appropriate circumstances and could not be used whenever the person saw fit. He felt that the Tinkers were being purposely disobedient and defiant to an authority figure and this case signaled the beginning of a new age of children in the education system. Harlan disagreed because he saw nothing that proved the school system had overstepped its bounds when it said it was trying to prevent a disturbance.