Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts
Students attending a public school in Des Moines, Iowa, planned to wear black armbands in protest against the Vietnam War. The principal, upon learning of the protest, warned the students that they would be suspended if they wore their armbands as it would disrupt classes. Some students wore their armbands and were suspended; their parents then sued the school. The parents argued that the school violated the students’ right to free speech.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa ruled in favor of the school. The students then began an appeals process that ended with the Supreme Court of the United States. The Supreme Court’s 7-2 majority decided that teacher and students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression” upon entering the school. The majority found that the suspicion of disruption was not enough to warrant suspension. In a dissent, two judges argued that the school did have a legitimate concern for disruption in the classroom as the armbands did distract students from learning.