Testimony of John Tinker, 1966

I didn’t anticipate the rule would forbid me from wearing the arm bands outside of school. I was concerned about being able to wear it to school because I didn’t see anything wrong with it. I didn’t think it was all that bad. In fact, I thought it was kind of good.

Testimony of John Tinker 1966

This is a record of John Tinker’s testimony in the appeal of the district court. Although the appeals court upheld the school’s rule banning the armbands, the Supreme Court ultimately ruled that ‘fear’ of disruption was not grounds for barring speech.

National Archives, Records of the Supreme Court of the United States