In what may be the most important free speech case decided by the Supreme Court in nearly 40 years, arguments were presented in the case of an Alaskan high school student suspended for 10 days for displaying a banner proclaiming "Bong Hits for Jesus" at an off campus event.
In 2002, Joseph Frederick was suspended from Juneau-Douglas High Scool. Never mind that the offense took place off campus and during the passing of the Olympic Torch through Alaska's capitol en route to Salt Lake City as part of the festivities for the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Frederick was initially given a five-day suspension, but it was increased to 10 days when he quoted Voltaire about the injustice of the suspension.
The case Morse V. Frederick has added significance because the school district and the principal are being represented pro bono by the infamous Ken Starr.
Starr and the School district assert that Morse is a drug case and not a free speech case.
According to the ACLU, which is representing him, Frederick said that the phrase Bong Hits 4 Jesus “was never meant to have any substantive meaning. It was certainly not intended as a drug or religious message. I conveyed this to the principal by explaining it was intended to be funny, subjectively interpreted by the reader and most importantly an exercise of my inalienable right to free speech.”
The Warren Court in 1969 decided in favor of an Iowa student who wore buttons and clothing with the slogan "Fuck the Draft" to school. The Supreme Court in Tinker proclaimed students do not leave their rights at the school house gate."
However, since then there has been a dramatic erosion in the rights that students have in public school. For example, students are drug tested not only for athletic activities but if they wish to join any extra-curricular activity per recent court decisions.
Frederick has had a wide-based coalition of supporters, including he conservative American Center for Law and Justice, Christian Legal Society and Rutherford Institute to the Student Press Law Center, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, Drug Policy Alliance and National Coalition Against Censorship.
Arguments before the Court were heard on Monday, and the likelihood is that the Roberts Court will uphold Frederick's suspension.
The suspension itself is moot as Frederick is now 23 and teaching English and studying in China.
The ramifications of upholding the suspension are enormous. Already students can be suspended from school for incriminating photos of drug and alcohol consumpion on the Internet. What Morse may do is give schools the ability for schools to suspend students for signing petitions for legalizing hemp, medical marijuana or attending a rally in support of the legalization of cannabis.
The fact that gay rights groups, drug activists, and staunch religous conservative groups like the Rutherford Institute all agree with one another suggest that Starr is completely wrong when he says Morse is simply a drug case.
IMHO it is especially troubling for a school for suspending a student for an activity that all citizens can engage at as this all took place in a public forum.
I have worked in the field of education. I have worked at public schools. I have also worked as a reporter. For instance, on school grounds you may need permission to shoot photographs or run videotape but not off school property.
I was once asked by a principal not to interview or photograph teachers engaged in a job action on the opposite side of the street where the school was. My reply was that the school's authority ended as soon as I was off the sidewide and in the public street. Now, I'm not that certain anymore.