Question

Which excerpt from Tinker v. Des Moines shows how precedent helps support an argument?

A. "I, for one, am not fully persuaded that school pupils are wise enough, even with this Court's expert help from Washington, to run the 23,390 public school systems [n4] in our 50 States."
B. "Other cases cited by the Court do not, as implied, follow the McReynolds reasonableness doctrine. West Virginia v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, clearly rejecting the 'reasonableness' test, held that the Fourteenth Amendment made the First applicable to the States."
C. "Only a few of the 18,000 students in the school system wore the black armbands. Only five students were suspended for wearing them. There is no indication that the work of the schools or any class was disrupted."
D. "In our system, students may not be regarded as closed-circuit recipients of only that which the State chooses to communicate."

Answer 1

The correct answer is B. The excerpt from Tinker v. Des Moines that shows how precedent helps support an argument is: "Other cases cited by the Court do not, as implied, follow the McReynolds reasonableness doctrine. West Virginia v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, clearly rejecting the 'reasonableness' test, held that the Fourteenth Amendment made the First applicable to the States".

This excerpt shows how the Supreme Court uses decisions of other cases already resolved to support arguments within cases in decision at the moment.

In the present case, the Court uses the precedent West Virginia v. Barnette, in which the doctrine of "reasonableness" of McReynolds is not admitted, to apply it to the case Tinker v. Des Moines.

Answer 2

In my opinion, the most reasonable way of supporting an argument reveals in the second statement B. "Other cases cited by the Court do not, as implied, follow the McReynolds reasonableness doctrine. West Virginia v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624, clearly rejecting the 'reasonableness' test, held that the Fourteenth Amendment made the First applicable to the States." This one makes the speaker’s position apprehensible for us.