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BENTONVILLE -- The plaintiff in a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case met with Bentonville High School students to discuss First Amendment rights Wednesday.

In 1965, Des Moines, Iowa students Mary Beth Tinker and Christopher Eckhardt wore black armbands to school to protest the Vietnam war. The school prohibited the armbands and suspended the students.

A lawsuit was filed against the Des Moines School District, and after losing at the district and appeals court levels, the case went before the Supreme Court in 1969. The Supreme Court ruled that students could express themselves as long as it doesn't "materially and substantially interfere" with school or violate other's rights. Today, Tinker v. Des Moines is still used to define limits of free expression at school.

"It's a huge issue today as well, because so many students now are speaking up and standing up about all the issues of our day and where the limits are for the First Amendment, where hate speech should be limited and where students should be encouraged to have their speech rights," Tinker says.

Tinker spoke with Bentonville students about her experience, and the challenges to freedom of expression in the digital age.

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Plaintiff in Landmark Supreme Court Case Talks to Bentonville Students