The historical Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case took place in the late 1960s amidst the Vietnam War. On December 16 and 17, 1965, three students in Des Moines, Iowa, wore black armbands to school in protest of the war. All three were suspended until they were willing to come back in the school's proper attire. The students' fathers filed a complaint with the U.S. District Court, but the court sided with the school. Later, however, an appeal determined that the First Amendment's Free Speech Clause protected the students.
Trinity Catholic School in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, UK, housed a polite protest regarding school uniforms in October, 2003, reports the Guardian. Two hundred students at the secondary school (high school) walked out of class to protest a school board decision to enforce uniforms for future students. In a 70-minute walk-out protest, the students demonstrated their concern that enforcement of a mandatory uniform policy would tarnish the school's liberal atmosphere. Though the headteacher confirmed that the protest was peaceful and respectful, the uniform policy still went into effect.
Students and parents in the Waterloo School District of Des Moines, Iowa, protested a school board decision in 2010 to enact a mandatory uniform policy. Banning the wearing of jeans, T-shirts, hoodies and open-toed shoes, the new policy required students to wear a collared, solid-color shirt. When the dispute was taken to court, Administrative Law Judge Carol Greta sided with the protesting students, ruling that the uniform policy was in violation of the law. While the school could decide what clothing was prohibited, the First Amendment Center reports that the school was told that they couldn't tell the students what they had to wear.
Two students in New Jersey's Bayonne School District faced suspension for wearing "Hitler Youth" buttons pinned to their school uniforms in November, 2006, according to an article on Fox News. The school claimed the pins were inappropriate, but the students and parents disagreed, taking the case to court. Judge Joseph A. Greenaway, Jr. took the students' side, citing the famous Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District case. The U.S. district judge ruled that the students couldn't be punished for expressing their views if they were not disrupting school work or disciplinary practices.
On the other side of the spectrum, ABC News reports that the cheerleaders of Central High School in Bridgeport, Connecticut, protested in 2010 that they didn't have enough uniform. The cheerleaders felt that the uniforms the school chose were too skimpy, revealing more midriff than the squad was comfortable with. While the cheerleaders wore the uniforms to the season's first game, they refused to wear them again and protested by wearing additional clothing under the uniforms. The school, not intending to make their cheerleaders uncomfortable, quickly purchased body suits to go under the uniform, covering the previously exposed midriff.