The Melton v. Young case is about a high school student that was suspended for wearing a jacket with a Confederate flag. The issue that was discussed is, whether or not the school officials could suspend a student for wearing Confederate flag. The clothing sparking racial tension was also discussed. The racial tension from the previous year was an argument for the defense because it can be said that the jacket could have refueled this. The defense also stated that the Melton family was informed of the new rules and chose to break them. The plaintiff’s argument was that the student’s suspension was unconstitutional and the confederate flag is a part of his heritage. The district court ruled the school’s dress code policy unconstitutionally
Citation: Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1969) Facts: In Des Moines, Iowa, a group of individuals met at a home to discuss ways to protest the United States involvement in the Vietnam War. The group decided beginning on December 16th and lasting until New Year’s Day, the members of the group would fast and wear black armbands to show their opposition to the war. School officials became aware of the students’ protest and implemented a policy that any student wearing a black armband would be asked to remove it. If the students did not remove the armband, then the student would be suspended.
The Supreme Court has just recently rejected a case about the Confederate Flag emblem being on the Mississippi flag, and Carlos Moore, an African-American man, who petitioned the court over his reason of how the flag, where it is located in state buildings, courts, and schools, symbolically expresses support for white supremacists. The justices didn’t exactly give a reasoning for the appeal, but a federal appeals court rejected the lawsuit, because of lack of standing. In the article it says “They said he demonstrated that he feels stigmatized.
The administrator ultimately banned the wearing of the confederate flag on school grounds nonetheless she admitted that she could not “ban it for eternity” (Hardie, 2013) and within months the students were back to wearing the flag. One of the teachers explained, “Our school’s, you know, real big, was real big into wearing the Confederate flag and they didn’t—I think it was lack of education or really understanding. I think we got a bunch of country bumpkins that just wore it because that’s what always—you know” (Hardie, 2013). This shows that although the history of the flag is known, the students’ allowed to wear the attire because the lack of understanding and education of the true meaning of the
The Tinker versus Des Moines court case involved three minors, John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhart. These three wore black armbands to their schools to protest the Vietnam War and were suspended following this action. Circuit courts and the Court of Appeals in Iowa ruled that the black armbands were inappropriate attire for school. This case was then brought to a higher-up court. Eventually, this case was brought before the Supreme Court.
The case Howes v. Fields was involved with the Miranda rights. The case is about an inmate´s confession about a sex crime without having the police officers questioning him telling him his Miranda rights. Mr. Fields had been brought to the jail of Michigan because of disorderly conduct. While being in jail Mr. Fields had been questioned by the police for several hours about the disorderly conduct. He was not told his Miranda rights, but he was told he was free to go back to his cell whenever he wanted too.
The issue in this case was whether school-sponsored nondenominational prayer in public schools violates the Establishment clause of the first amendment (Facts and Case Summary - Engel v. Vitale, n.d.). This case dealt with a New York state law that had required public schools to open each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and a nondenominational prayer in which the students recognized their dependence upon God (Facts and Case Summary - Engel v. Vitale, n.d.). This law had also allowed students to absent themselves from this activity if they found that it was objectionable. There was a parent that sued the school on behalf of their child. Their argument was that the law violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as made applicable
The Barnette children were jehovah witnesses and saluting to the flag went against their religious beliefs. They got expelled for not saluting the flag and the supreme court took the case. The supreme court acknowledged that the
This argument will discuss whether the confederate flags are right or wrong symbols of Southern culture. The Confederate flag was a flag that the southern states used in the Civil War. Now the Southern states say that is their modern culture while the rest of the US says that the flag stands for racial discrimination. In this essay, I will let you read what is the Southern United States’ perspective of the argument. In the next paragraph, is the reasoning behind the argument of the rest of the US against using the Confederate flag.
The landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court in 1896, upheld public segregation based on the color of one’s skin, is known as Plessy v. Ferguson . The decision by the justices on the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of separate but equal facilities based on race . The practice of segregation based on race stayed in effect for over sixty years until it was overturned in 1954 by the Supreme Court decision in
The confederate flag is immediately recognizable in the back window of a pickup truck or portrayed on the t-shirt for Lynrd Skynrd and Credence Clearwater, but has come under stark criticism. The argument is a multi-faceted assault, by, both restricting first amendment rights of free speech, restricting a symbol of southern heritage, and a person ’s right not to feel threatened by an assumed racist epithet. It is a simple piece of fabric, the red and blue Southern Cross, which divides a nation much as it did 150 years ago when it symbolized the fight against oppressive laws. Many believe that the Confederate Flag is representative of the patriots who were willing to sacrifice their lives to protect the nation and individual rights the founding fathers envisioned, however today, liberals and minorities have made the claim, the confederate flag is racist rather than a simple symbol of southern pride.
This case only strengthens student free speech by bypassing the school 's dress
This case focused on Gregory Lee Johnson and if his act of flag burning was “symbolic speech” protected by the First Amendment-- They
Some commonly known examples are the Tinker v. Des Moines (1969) and Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986). Recently in Oregon an eighth grader was suspended for wearing a t-shirt displaying an image of fallen soldiers with the words “Standing for those who stood for us,” However the t-shirt also included images of boots, a helmet, and a gun, school officials claimed this shirt was offensive and told the eighth grader to change his shirt. When he refused he was given an ultimatum: remove the shirt or be suspended.
New York case , the Supreme Court decided that New York and any other state were not justified to charge someone for speaking negatively about the flag. In addition, in a precedent case in 1969, the Supreme Court of Brandenburg v. Ohio ruled that even though Brandenburg was a member of the Klu Klux Klan, he was able to present a speech at a rally. Granted, the first amendments forbids speech it is primarily spoken to encourage or commence any type of crime. In like manner, in Texas v. Johnson, though burning the flag was impressed as disrespectful to some people, no laws or amendments were corrupted.
In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court case Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District upheld the right to freedom of speech of students to protest the Vietnam war by wearing black armbands. The case explained the problem that “students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.” (Student) As students, we are free to express ourselves through what we wear. As students, we have every right to proclaim our beliefs