The students with their family, who were defended by the ACLU, engaged in a four-year legal dispute that resulted in the historic Supreme Court ruling. Rookie attorney Dan Johnston, who comes from Des Moines and recently graduated from law school, presented the case.
The US Supreme Court ruled in support of the students in a 7-2 ruling in 1969. Students don't give up their civil protections at the campus gates, the high court ruled, agreeing that they should be preserved.