Jerika Adams-Harrison March 19 2013 AP Government Legal Brief The first Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights which

has restrictions on the federal government for the respect of the civil liberties of the people. There are five basic freedoms in the first Amendment which are the freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition. One freedom that has been evolved throughout the years is the freedom of speech. There are many different forms of freedom of speech. For an example there is pure speech and symbolic speech. Pure speech is spoken and written word. Symbolic speech is gestures, banners, things on your clothes, signs, and symbols. Throughout the years freedom of speech had been evolved due to the decisions of the Supreme Court in the cases of Tinker v. Fed Moines, West Virginia v. Board of Ed v. Barnette, the Board of Education v. Pico, Hazelwood school District v. Kuhlmeir , and Morse v. Fredrick. Freedom of speech has also been evolved throughout the years because it has been extended and clarified to protect student speech. The first example of how freedom of speech evolved throughout the years for students is in the case Tinker v. DesMoines. In this case John Tinker, Mary Beth Tinker, and Christopher Echardt all wore black arm bands to school to protest the Vietnam War. The principal of the Des Moines school asked all students wearing armbands to remove them or face suspension. When the Tinker siblings and Christopher were asked to remove the armbands they refused and got suspended. The question in this case was does the prohibition of wearing armbands in public schools to protest the Vietnam War violated the first Amendment? The outcome of this case was that wearing armbands are protected by the first amendment. The significance of this case was that it

established that "students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate" (Tinker v. DesMoines) and it also set the bar for "material disruption" in schools. The second example of how freedom of speech evolved throughout the years for students is in the case of West Virginia Board of Ed v. Barnette. In this case the West Virginia board of education required that flag salute be a part of the program of activities in all public schools. Anyone who refused to salute was punished by expulsion or charges of delinquency. The questions of this case was did the compulsory flag salute for public schoolchildren violate the first Amendment? In a 6-3 vote the Supreme Court ruled that forcing public schoolchildren to salute the flag was violating the first Amendment. "The Court held, was doomed to failure and was antithetical to First Amendment values" (West Virginia Board of Ed v. Barnette). The significance of this case was that it is unconstitutional to force student (in this case) to salute to the flag. The third example of how freedom of speech evolved throughout the years for students is in the case of the Board of Education v. Pico. In this case the board of Education ordered to remove certain books from junior high and high school libraries. The reason behind this was because the Board of Education said that some books were "anti-American, anti-Christian, antiSemitic, and just plain filthy" (Board of Education v. Pico). The questions of this case was did the Board of Education's decision to ban certain books because of their content violate the first amendment. In a 5-4 vote the Supreme Court ruled that the Board banning books from junior high and high school libraries violated the first Amendment because the Board couldn't restrict books just because some people disagreed with the idea of their content. "First Amendment limits the school boards discretion to remove books from schools and libraries"(Justice White).

The fourth example of how freedom of speech evolved throughout the years for students is in the case of Hazelwood school District v. Kuhlmeir. In this case the Hazelwood School sponsored newspaper of Hazelwood East Homeschool which was written and edited by students. The principle found two inappropriate articles in an issue and ordered to have the two articles removed from the issue. The student Cathy Kuhlmeir brought the case to court. The questions of this case was did the principal's deletion of the articles violate the students rights under the first Amendment? The outcome of this case was that the Court held that the First Amendment did not require schools to affirmatively promote particular types of student speech. " Educators did not offend the First Amendment by exercising editorial control over the content of student speech so long as their actions were 'reasonably related' to legitimate pedagogical concerns" (Hazelwood school District v. Kuhlmeir). The actions of Principal Reynolds, the Court held, met this test" The Court held that schools must be able to set high standards for student speech and that schools could refuse to sponsor speech. The last example of how freedom of speech evolved throughout the years for students is in the case of Morse v. Fredrick. In this case Joseph Fredrick held up a banner with the message "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a school event. This was a slang term used to reference marijuana smoking. The principal Morse suspended him for 10 days because he said that the banner promotes the use of drugs. Fredrick then sued Morse for violation of his freedom of speech. There were two questions to this case the first questions was did the first Amendment allow public schools to prohibit students from displaying messages promoting the use of illegal drugs? The second question was does a school official have immunity from damages lawsuit under the 42 U.S.C in accordance with the school policy? The outcome of this case was that school officials can prohibit students from displaying messages that promotes illegal drugs. "That although students

do have some right to political speech even while in school, this right does not extend to prodrug messages that may undermine the school's important mission to discourage drug use" (Chief Justice John Roberts). Summing up, the first Amendment has evolved throughout the years because it has extended and clarified student freedom of speech in schools. The first Amendment was extended in the Tinker v. DesMoines case because schools couldn't restrict symbolic speech that hasn't caused harm to others. Also the first Amendment has been clarified in the cases of West Virginia v. Board of Ed v. Barnette, the Board of Education v. Pico, Hazelwood school District v. Kuhlmeir, and Morse v. Fredrick. Freedom of speech was clarified in these cases because students' freedoms of speech in schools were limited. Also this is where the Supreme Court began to put limits on the interpretations of the Tinker.v DesMoines case.

Works Cited Page TINKER v. DES MOINES IND. COMM. SCHOOL DIST.. The Oyez Project at IIT ChicagoKent College of Law. 03 April 2013. Monday, February 24, 1969 WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF ED. v. BARNETTE. The Oyez Project at IIT ChicagoKent College of Law. 03 April 2013. Monday, June 14, 1943 ISLAND TREES SCHOOL DISTRICT BOARD OF EDUCATION v. PICO. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 03 April 2013. Friday, June 25, 1982 HAZELWOOD SCHOOL DISTRICT v. UNITED STATES. The Oyez Project at IIT ChicagoKent College of Law. 03 April 2013. Wednesday, January 13, 1988 MORSE v. FREDERICK. The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law. 03 April 2013. Monday, June 25, 2007