Another First Amendment Issue
By Stephen Kershnar
The Supreme Court recently (March 19, 2007) heard Morse v. Frederick, a Supreme Court case about free speech for high school students.
The case arose in January 2002, when Coca-Cola and other private sponsors supported a “Winter Olympics Day.” An 18-year-old high school student, Joseph Frederick, didn’t go to school and later attended the rally for the Winter Olympics Torch Relay. Fellow students joined him since the students were released from class that day so that they could watch the Olympic torch pass by. There were fistfights and snowball fights at this “educational” event, but Frederick and his friends did not participate. Instead, they unfurled a 14-foot “BONG HiTS 4 JESUS” banner to get on TV. He took the phrase from a snowboard and viewed it as meaningless. I checked with my brother and he confirmed that this slogan is funny.
There is controversy over whether the students were on a field trip or other supervised event. The students did not have to obtain parental permission slips as would be required for such an event and were permitted to leave the rally. Nonetheless the Juneau school claimed that at the rally the school was in session (they must have done a few hits).
The principal, Deborah Morse, then grabbed and crumpled the banner. She later suspended Frederick for ten days. He says she suspended him for five and then doubled it when he quoted Thomas Jefferson, she denies this. The principal and school conceded that the display did not disrupt nor was expected to disrupt classroom work, but was shut down because it advocated illegal drug use.
Frederick then sued Morse and the school board because, he says, it violated his free-speech rights. He also sued Morse arguing that his rights were so clearly established that Morse was not entitled to legal immunity.
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