Celebrating ‘Tinker v. Des Moines School District’
If you’re a First Amendment fan (a given) and you’re in the Washington, D.C., area, you’ll want to be at the U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 6 at 6 p.m.
That’s when the Tinker Tour rolls through the District.
Mary Beth Tinker was 13 years old in 1965 when she and some other young students in Des Moines, Iowa, wore armbands to school as a silent statement about the Vietnam War. Administrators tried to force the students to remove the armbands, which led to a challenge in the court system. Ultimately, in 1969, the Supreme Court ruled that the armbands were free speech; the students won.
This fall, Tinker and attorney Mike Hiestand – who won SPJ’s First Amendment Award in 2012 – have been criss-crossing the country to talk about free speech and a free press.
The tour is supported by the Student Press Law Center.
The Nov. 6 event will be part of the United States Supreme Court Historical Society’s Leon Silverman Lecture Series.
Tags: Des Moines, First Amendment, Iowa, Mary Beth Tinker, Mike Hiestand, SPJ, Student Press Law Center, U.S. Supreme Court, Washington
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