Mary Beth and John Tinker

THE QUESTION OF THE CASE

The amendment in question was the First Amendment. The student's protest was a non-violent expression of their beliefs, which is protected under the amendment. However, the school administrators felt that the protest would cause disruptions in the school. The gray area in this case is the fact that the expression was symbolic instead of spoken. The Amendment States "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech." The type of speech is undefined, leaving room for hate speech against an individual or group to be protected. The amendment also fails to define what expressive actions are considered speech. This uncertainty and the plaintiffs' claims that their rights had been violated are the reasons why the case was put before the Supreme Court.