Apply the Bill of Rights to real Supreme Court cases

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Tinker v. Des Moines (decided February 24, 1969)

   Box Facts: students in Des Moines, Iowa, planned to wear black armbands as a silent protest against the Vietnam War; the school warned they would be suspended; some wore them and were suspended; lower courts sided with the school. Box Question: Does the First Amendment protect students' silent protest at school?. Box Holding (7 to 2): yes: students keep their right to free speech at school; officials may not ban speech only because they suspect it might disrupt learning. Box Right and power: First Amendment speech, limiting public school officials. Arrows: from Facts to Question: raise; from Question to Holding: answered by. Line 1 (Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), 393 U.S. 503 (1969)): "It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Below the diagram: the two dissenting justices said schools need broad authority to keep order for learning.

2. 1.

   What did the students wear to school, Ren asks?

   • Black armbands
   • Protest signs on poles
   • School uniforms
   • Red hats
3. 2.

   What was the Court's vote, Tala asks?

   • 2 to 7
   • 5 to 4
   • 7 to 2
   • 9 to 0
4. 3.

   By line 1, what don't students and teachers shed at the schoolhouse gate, Ari asks?

   • Their right to a jury
   • Their school rules
   • Their coats and bags
   • Their rights to free speech
5. 4.

   In line 1, what does shed mean, Bo asks?

   • Leave behind
   • Keep forever
   • Build a small hut
   • Paint a wall
6. 5.

   What does the schoolhouse gate stand for in line 1, Esme asks?

   • Leaving the country
   • A real gate the Court built
   • Going into school
   • A courtroom door
7. 6.

   Jun reads the word holding. In a court case, what is the holding?

   • The court's answer to the question
   • A jail cell
   • The losing side's view
   • The facts of the case
8. 7.

   Kira reads the word dissent. What is a dissent?

   • A written disagreement
   • A new law
   • A protest armband
   • The majority's ruling
9. 8.

   Luz reads the word suspended. What happened to suspended students?

   • Given a prize
   • Sent to court as judges
   • Hung up by their coats
   • Kept out of school for a time
10. 9.

    Whose power did the Tinker holding limit, Noah asks?

    • Public school officials
    • The students' parents
    • Congress's power to tax
    • The president's veto
11. 10.

    What did the dissent argue, by the note, Pia asks?

    • The armbands were legal everywhere
    • Students have no rights in school
    • The war should end
    • Schools need power to keep order