Tinker et al. v. Des Moines Independent Community School District et al.

Decided February 24, 1969. Abe Fortas delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 21 · 393 U.S. 503 (1969) · Cited 3,241 times

We don’t yet publish a summary of this opinion — read the official text below for the Court’s holding and reasoning.

How the Justices voted

Decided 7–2.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Meyer v. Nebraska · 262 U.S. 390 (1923)
• West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette · 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
• Cox v. Louisiana · 379 U.S. 536 (1965)
• Edwards v. South Carolina · 372 U.S. 229 (1963)
• Adderley v. Florida · 385 U.S. 39 (1966)
• Brown v. Louisiana · 383 U.S. 131 (1966)
• Thornhill v. Alabama · 310 U.S. 88 (1940)
• Shelton v. Tucker · 364 U.S. 479 (1960)
• Keyishian v. Board of Regents of Univ. of State of NY · 385 U.S. 589 (1967)
• Stromberg v. California · 283 U.S. 359 (1931)
• Ginsberg v. New York · 390 U.S. 629 (1968)
• Ferguson v. Skrupa · 372 U.S. 726 (1963)
• Cantwell v. Connecticut · 310 U.S. 296 (1940)
• Rochin v. California · 342 U.S. 165 (1952)
• Prince v. Massachusetts · 321 U.S. 158 (1944)
• Terminiello v. Chicago · 337 U.S. 1 (1949)
• Giboney v. Empire Storage & Ice Co. · 336 U.S. 490 (1949)
• Wieman v. Updegraff · 344 U.S. 183 (1952)
• Engel v. Vitale · 370 U.S. 421 (1962)
• Sweezy v. New Hampshire Ex Rel. Wyman · 354 U.S. 234 (1957)
• Illinois Ex Rel. McCollum v. Board of Ed. of School Dist. No. 71, Champaign Cty. · 333 U.S. 203 (1948)
• Irvine v. California · 347 U.S. 128 (1954)
• Hamilton v. Regents of the University of California · 293 U.S. 245 (1934)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Morse v. Frederick · 551 U.S. 393 (2007)
• Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier · 484 U.S. 260 (1988)
• Grayned v. City of Rockford · 408 U.S. 104 (1972)
• Mahanoy Area School Dist. v. B. L. · 594 U.S. 180 (2021)
• Board of Ed., Island Trees Union Free School Dist. No. 26 v. Pico · 457 U.S. 853 (1982)
• Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. · 473 U.S. 788 (1985)
• Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser · 478 U.S. 675 (1986)
• Perry Education Ass'n v. Perry Local Educators' Ass'n · 460 U.S. 37 (1983)
• Healy v. James · 408 U.S. 169 (1972)
• Goss v. Lopez · 419 U.S. 565 (1975)
• Greer v. Spock · 424 U.S. 828 (1976)
• Connick Ex Rel. Parish of Orleans v. Myers · 461 U.S. 138 (1983)
• Procunier v. Martinez · 416 U.S. 396 (1974)
• New Jersey v. T. L. O. · 469 U.S. 325 (1985)
• Clark v. Community for Creative Non-Violence · 468 U.S. 288 (1984)
• Bellotti v. Baird · 443 U.S. 622 (1979)
• Spence v. Washington · 418 U.S. 405 (1974)
• Board of Ed. of Westside Community Schools (Dist. 66) v. Mergens · 496 U.S. 226 (1990)
• United States Postal Service v. Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations · 453 U.S. 114 (1981)
• Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist. · 597 U.S. 507 (2022)
• Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville · 422 U.S. 205 (1975)
• McCutcheon v. Federal Election Comm'n · 572 U.S. 185 (2014)
• Saxbe v. Washington Post Co. · 417 U.S. 843 (1974)
• Minnesota Voters Alliance v. Mansky · 585 U.S. 1 (2018)
• Matal v. Tam · 582 U.S. 218 (2017)
• Monell v. New York City Dept. of Social Servs. · 436 U.S. 658 (1978)
• Wisconsin v. Yoder · 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
• Wood v. Strickland · 420 U.S. 308 (1975)
• Texas v. Johnson · 491 U.S. 397 (1989)
• Jones v. North Carolina Prisoners' Labor Union, Inc. · 433 U.S. 119 (1977)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

Explore from here

Abe Fortas’s profile · All Supreme Court opinions · The Supreme Court

Source: the U.S. Reports via govinfo.gov; authoring Justice and vote lineup from the Supreme Court Database (Washington University). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).