An Iowa lawyer connected to a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case has died.
Dan Johnston was just 30 years old in 1969 when the Supreme Court issued its ruling on the so-called Tinker case. Johnston represented two students who were suspended from Des Moines Public Schools for wearing black arm bands to protest the Vietnam War.
The Supreme Court ruled school officials had violated the free-speech rights of John and Mary Beth Tinker. Johnston is a native of Montezuma who got his law degree from Drake University. He had just graduated from law school when he took on the Tinker case.
Johnston died this morning at a Des Moines hospice. He was 77 years old.
