Texas vs. Johnson
and
Tinker vs. Des Moines
By Emily Franklin
Protected Speech:
• Listed in the 1st amendment
• Some limits on freedom of speech:
– Speech that presents a clear and present danger
– Speech that presents a credible threat
– Obscene speech
– Libel
– Slander
– Speech that incites crime
Protected Speech (Cont’d):
• “Speech” does not just refer to spoken words
• Encompasses actions that make a statement
such as wearing a certain article of clothing or
the burning of a flag.
Texas vs. Johnson: Background
• In 1984, in front of the Dallas City Hall, Gregory Lee Johnson
burned an American flag as a means of protest against Reagan
administration policies.
• Johnson was tried and convicted under a Texas law outlawing
flag desecration.
• He was sentenced to one year in jail and assessed a $2,000
fine.
• After the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals reversed the
conviction, the case went to the Supreme Court.
Texas vs. Johnson: Legal Question
• Is the desecration of an American flag, by
burning or otherwise, a form of speech that is
protected under the First Amendment?
Texas vs. Johnson: Decision
• 5 votes for Johnson, 4 votes against
• The Court determined that Johnson's burning
of a flag was protected expression under the
First Amendment
• Found that Johnson's actions fell into the
category of expressive conduct and had a
distinctively political nature
Texas vs. Johnson: Decision
• The Court found that just because an
audience takes offense to certain ideas or
expression does not justify a prohibition of
speech.
Tinker vs. Des Moines: Background
• John Tinker, 15 years old, his sister Mary Beth Tinker, 13 years
old, and Christopher Echardt, 16 years old, decided along with
their parents to protest the Vietnam War by wearing black
armbands to their Des Moines schools.
• Fearing that the armbands would provoke disturbances, the
principals of the Des Moines school district concluded that all
students wearing armbands be asked to remove them or face
suspension.
• The students wore them anyways and were consequently
suspended until after New Year’s Day.
Tinker vs. Des Moines: Legal Question
• Does a prohibition against the wearing of
armbands in public school, as a form of
symbolic protest, violate the First
Amendment's freedom of speech protections?
Tinker vs. Des Moines: Decision
• 7 votes for Tinker, 2 votes against
• The wearing of armbands was similar to “pure
speech" and protected by the First
Amendment.
• School environments imply limitations on free
expression, but here the principals lacked
justification for imposing any such limits.
Tinker vs. Des Moines: Decision
• The principals had failed to show that the
wearing of the armbands would significantly
interfere with appropriate school discipline.
Citations
• http://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-1989/1988/1988_88_155/
• http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0491_0397_Z
S.html
• http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1968/1968_21
• http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/comm/free_speech/tinker.html