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"BONG HiTS 4 JESUS" Verdict Restricts Free Speech
Staff Editorial
10.25.07
Sometimes the most important court cases take the longest to decide. In the case of Frederick v. Morse, it’s been over five years in the making. This case decided the fate of Juneau-Douglas High School senior Joseph Frederick and his “BONG HiTs 4 JESUS” sign.
Frederick brought the banner to the sidewalk across the street of his school on Jan. 24, 2002. The rest of the school had also been allowed to leave the school in order to go to the edge of school property and watch the Olympic torchbearer pass by.
As television cameras passed over Frederick and a few of his friends, who did not attend school that day or enter school property, they unfurled the 14-foot banner, hoping to be seen on TV and get a laugh.
Outraged, school principal Deborah Morse crossed the street to where the group was standing and demanded that they take it down, citing that it was supporting illegal drug use. Feeling justified, as he was not on school property and had not attended school that day, Frederick refused. Morse then proceeded to tear the sign down and confiscate it, and she later suspended Frederick for ten days. Frederick believed this violated his First Amendment rights and sued the school.
On June 30, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the school was within its rights to confiscate the sign, as it was reasonable to assume that the message displayed on the banner could have a negative impact on Frederick and the rest of the student body. So, the U.S. public school system now has one more argument for suppressing student speech.
In this case, the administrative reach of a school’s authority now affects any school-sponsored activity, even if the event happens off of school grounds. This reach even includes students who did not report to school the day of the event at all.
So, if a parent calls the student out of school, say, for a state softball game, while the student is at the game, the school has the authority to censor them if they violate dress code, advocate illegal drug use or just plain screw around.
The United States Justice System, which admirably works to protect the First Amendment and free speech in the adult world, continues to disappoint us in its coverage of students.
To echo the 1969 Supreme Court decision of Tinker v. Des Moines, “It can hardly be argued that either students or teachers shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate.”
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Image from http://blogs.sun.com
Photo shows high school senior Joseph Frederick and his friends showing of their "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS" banner. The banner resulted in a ten day suspension for Frederick.
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