10 Supreme Court cases every teen should know: Part 1: the nation's highest court has had plenty to say about everything from free speech at school to legal protections for teens.

• Author: Jacobs, Tom
• Position: NATIONAL

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The Supreme Court of the United States has had the last word on some of the most important--and divisive-legal questions in American history: Is flag-burning protected by our fight to freedom of speech? Is the death penalty a "cruel and unusual punishment"? Do we have the right to own weapons?

And though it may seem like the nine Justices-who deliberate in secret and serve lifetime appointments--live in a world far removed from your own, many of the cases they decide directly affect you, as both a teenager and a student.

In a landmark 1967 case known as In re Gault ("in re" is Latin for "in reference to"), which concerned the arrest of a 15-year-old Arizona boy named Gerald Gault, the Supreme Court established for the first time that teenagers have distinct rights under the Constitution. Since then, it has ruled on a variety of issues involving people under 18--from freedom of speech and privacy rights at school to protections for minors in the legal system,

This two-part article examines 10 of these cases, and why they matter to you.

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Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District (1969)

ISSUE: FREEDOM OF SPEECH AT SCHOOL

BOTTOM LINE: You have the right to express yourself--up to a point.

BACKGROUND: In December 1965, John and Mary Beth Tinker (above) and their friend Chris Eckhardt wore black armbands to school in Des Moines, Iowa, to protest the Vietnam War. School officials told them to remove the armbands, and when they refused, they were suspended (John, 15, from North High; Mary Beth, 13, from Warren Harding Junior High; and Chris, 16, from Roosevelt High). With their parents, they sued the school district, claiming it had violated their First Amendment fight of freedom of speech.

RULING: The Supreme Court sided with the students. Students and teachers don't "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate," the Court said.

The Court did not, however, grant students an unlimited right to self-expression. It said First Amendment guarantees must be balanced against a school's need to keep order: As long as an act of expression doesn't disrupt classwork or school activities or invade the rights of others, it's acceptable.

Regarding the students in this case, "their deviation consisted only in wearing on their sleeve a band of black cloth," the Court said. "They caused discussion outside of the classrooms, but no interference with work and no disorder."

IMPACT: In 1986, applying the "disruption test" from the Tinker case, the Court upheld the suspension of Matthew Fraser, a 17-year-old senior at Bethel High School in Tacoma, Washington, who gave a school speech containing sexual innuendos (Bethel School District v. Fraser). The Court said "it is a highly appropriate function of public school education to prohibit the use of vulgar and offensive terms in public discourse."

Lower courts have relied on Tinker in rulings on school attire, allowing nose rings and dyed hair, for example, but disallowing a T-shirt displaying a Confederate flag.

In 2007, the Supreme Court ruled that schools can limit student speech that seems to advocate illegal drug use (Frederick v. Morse). The case involved an 18-year-old senior at Juneau-Douglas High School in Alaska who was suspended for holding a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" while standing across the street from the school during the Olympic torch relay in 2002.

Kent v. United States (1966)

ISSUE: JUVENILES AND SERIOUS CRIME

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