Public school students have free speech rights under the First Amendment. Therefore, wearing armbands as a form of protest on public school grounds qualifies as protected symbolic speech. Decided February 24, 1969 (argued November 12, 1968). Opinion of the Court: Abe Fortas → go there Dissenting: Black, Harlan. Applied: the First Amendment → go there Applied: the Fourteenth Amendment → go there Topic: Freedom of speech and of the press. Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, 393 U.S. 503 (1969), is a landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court that recognized the First Amendment rights of students in U.S. public schools. The Tinker test, also known as the "substantial disruption" test, is still used by courts today to determine whether a school's interest in preventing disruption outweighs students' First Amendment rights. The Court famously oponed, "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Wiki link