In violation of a school policy prohibiting students from wearing an armband to protest war and authorizing suspension for refusing to remove the armbands, students wore black armbands to protest the war. When asked to remove the armbands, the students refused. As a result, they were suspended until they agreed not to wear the armbands.
What Amendment is at issue here? [The 1st Amendment]
What do you think a Court held about what the school did? [The Supreme Court of the United States ruled that wearing the armbands is akin to “pure speech” because it does not concern “aggressive, disruptive action or . . . group demonstrations.” The Court reasoned that wearing armbands does not intrude upon the work of the schools or the rights of other students. Therefore, the Court determined that the school district’s fear that wearing the armbands would cause a disturbance did not overcome the right to freedom of expression]