About ACLU

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Iowa is the state affiliate of the national American Civil Liberties Union. Established in 1935, the ACLU of Iowa was the fifth ACLU affiliate in the U.S.^[1] As a private, non-partisan organization, the organization strives to ensure the basic freedoms and liberties of all Iowans. They work in the Iowa legislature, in the courts, and through public advocacy and education.^[2]

The ACLU of Iowa is committed to criminal justice reform, disability rights, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, immigrant rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, personal privacy, reproductive rights, racial justice, student rights, and voting rights.^[3]

Tinker v. Des Moines

Tinker v. Des Moines was a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court, defining student’s freedom of speech in public schools.^[4]

In 1965, Mary Beth Tinker, a 13-year-old student and a group of students decided to wear black armbands to school to protest the war in Vietnam.^[4] The Des Moines schools learned of the protest and swiftly created a policy that stated that school children wearing an armband would be asked to remove it immediately and those who violated the policy would be suspended.^[4]

On December 16, Tinker and other students, including John Tinker and Chris Eckhardt, were suspended for wearing the armband.^[4] The students were told that they could not return to school until they agreed to remove their armbands. The students returned from winter break, without armbands, but in protest, they wore black clothing and had filed a lawsuit. ^[4] Represented by the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, the students and family filed a First Amendment lawsuit. Dan Johnston was the lead attorney on the case.^[4]

On February 24, 1969, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled 7-2 that students do not “shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”^[4]

The court found that the First Amendment applied to public schools, and school officials could not censor student speech unless it disrupted the educational process. Since wearing a black armband was not disruptive, the court held that the First Amendment protected the right of students to wear them in protest.^[4]

To this day the Tinker Test or substantial disruption test (a test used to determine whether an act by a U.S. public school has infringed a student’s constitutional right of free speech) has been applied to numerous cases involving student’s First Amendment rights.^[5]

References