THE ISSUE Does a student have freedom of speech? POINTS OF DEBATE The court upheld a principal's decision to suspend a student because of a banner that seemed to promote drug use; The ruling strikes fear in those who've seen slippery slopes in action THE STAR'S VIEW Children have minds of their own; Parents must teach them, not just tell them, something is bad and forbid them to talk about it All speech is free ... except when a school principal says it's not. That was part of what some free speech advocates took away from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week. [continues 555 words]
If the issue of student free speech were not so serious, the U.S. Supreme Court's unfortunate decision in the case of a high school senior who held up a provocative banner - for which he was suspended by school authorities - could almost be chalked up to a generational misunderstanding. But the overreaction by adult authorities in this case, from school officials to a majority of the high court, has led to a bad precedent for First Amendment rights. Joseph Frederick, who was an 18-year-old senior in 2002, has admitted that the main reason he and some of his friends created a 14-foot banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" and displayed it as the Olympic torch came through their town of Juneau, Alaska, was to attract the attention of television cameras. Mr. Frederick and his fellow students had been excused from classes to watch the torch parade from a public sidewalk across the street from their school. [continues 236 words]
High Court Rules, 5-4, That Administrators Have The Right To Discipline Students For Promoting Illegal Activities. WASHINGTON -- School principals may punish students for displaying signs that favor the use of illegal drugs, the Supreme Court said Monday in a narrow decision limiting the free-speech rights of students. The 5-4 ruling rejected a free-speech claim from a former high school student in Juneau, Alaska, who was suspended for unfurling a banner outside school that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." The student, Joseph Frederick, hoped to show up on the local television news because the Olympic torch parade was due to pass by. Instead, he ended up in the principal's office and received a 10-day suspension. [continues 663 words]
5-4 Decision Backs Restriction On Free Speech In Schools WASHINGTON -- A divided United States Supreme Court ruled Monday against an Alaska student kicked out of his high school for unfurling a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner on a public sidewalk. In a 5-4 decision that restricts the free speech rights of U.S. students, the high court said a principal was justified in suspending 18-year-old Joseph Frederick because his homemade banner promoted the use of drugs. "Student speech celebrating illegal drug use ... poses a particular challenge for school officials working to protect those entrusted to their care from the dangers of drug abuse," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "The First Amendment does not require schools to tolerate, at school events, student expression that contributes to those dangers." [continues 320 words]
WASHINGTON -- The Alaska high school student who unfurled a 14-foot banner with the odd message "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" insisted that it was a banner about nothing, a prank designed to get him and his friends on television as the Olympic torch parade went through Juneau en route to the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. The school's principal insisted, to the contrary, that the banner advocated, or at least celebrated, illegal drug use, and that the student, Joseph Frederick, should be punished for displaying it. She suspended him for 10 days. [continues 724 words]
As a Grade 10 student I have been carefully following the story about Kieran King's suspension by his school principal, after he was heard discussing the health effects of marijuana with friends. Having taken the Career And Life Management course in school, my entire grade had to create and present projects on all manner of drugs, their side effects and relative health risks. These projects were all required by the school, and none of us got in trouble for saying "drug A is less dangerous than drug B." [continues 105 words]
In a 6-3 decision yesterday, the Supreme Court ruled that a high school principal was within her authority to suspend an 18-year-old student who unfurled a 14-foot banner across the street from school grounds that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during the Olympic torch's pass through Juneau, Alaska in 2002. Given the circumstance of the case, it is hard to find a good guy. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion, "It was reasonable for (the principal) to conclude that the banner promoted illegal drug use and that failing to act would send a powerful message to the students in her charge." By tacitly endorsing the spectacularly failed "war" on drugs, the court makes the mistake of thinking that this ruling will do something to impact drug use among minors. [continues 209 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court made an important decision Monday that placed tighter control on students' freedom of speech. The Court ruled, 5-4, that schools can restrict student expression when their messages seem to support illegal drug use. This decision directly stemmed from an incident where a high school student displayed a 14-foot long sign reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" near his high school in 2002. The student, Joseph Frederick, who was later suspended from the school, displayed his banner outside the high school grounds while the Olympic torch relay passed through Juneau, Alaska, for the 2002 Winter Olympics. [continues 279 words]
Yes, kids will be kids, and that's why schools are expected to impose some level of order and civility on them - to do what good parents are supposed to do - set limits. And yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court said that's OK. The 5-4 decision came in the case of a Juneau, Alaska, high school student who on a winter morning in 2002 decided to unfurl a homemade 14-foot banner saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as the Olympic torch was passing by. The school principal wasn't pleased at what she thought was a pro-drug message and suspended Joseph Frederick, thus prompting a federal civil rights lawsuit. [continues 60 words]
A 5-4 Majority Cites Perils Of Illegal Drugs In Case Of The 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Banner The Supreme Court yesterday gave public schools new authority to regulate what students say, allowing principals to punish speech or demonstrations that may "reasonably be viewed" as promoting illegal drug use. In its most significant ruling on student speech in almost two decades, the court said that the principal of a high school in Juneau, Alaska, did not violate senior Joseph Frederick's constitutional right to free speech when she suspended him for unfurling a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" as students waited for the Olympic torch relay to pass their school in 2002. A bong is a water pipe commonly used to smoke marijuana. [continues 782 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court needlessly chipped away at First Amendment free-speech guarantees with a ruling elevating a high-school prank to a dangerous promotion of drug use. The 6-3 ruling miscast the case before the court as about drugs. But it was about a student's right to speech. Five years ago, high-school senior Joseph Frederick stood across the street from his school and unfurled a 14-foot banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Frederick and other students from the Juneau, Alaska, school were just off school property attending a nonschool event, an Olympic Torch relay. [continues 222 words]
The Supreme Court Ruled Monday That School Officials Retain Discretion To Censor Student Speech That They Believe May Encourage Illegal Drug Use. Washington -- A high school principal did not violate the free speech rights of a student when she confiscated a 14-foot prank banner near school grounds during an outdoor school assembly. In an important First Amendment decision limiting student free speech, the US Supreme Court ruled on Monday that school administrators and teachers retain discretion to censor student speech that they believe may encourage illegal drug use. [continues 401 words]
Maybe I should have gone to law school. But only if God promised I would grow up to be a justice on the Supreme Court. The Nine Interpreters may have more fun than anyone in public life. Tip the United States on its side and eventually everything loose rolls into the Supreme Court. Justice Antonin Scalia, a skilled ironist, by now treats the court's annual agenda like a man at a driving range with a bucket of golf balls. What fun. Wonder Land columnist Dan Henninger discusses the recent high court ruling on public school students' freedoms of speech. [continues 1027 words]
Court Extends Government Control Of Expression In 1969, the U.S. Supreme Court famously declared that students do not "shed their constitutional right to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." Maybe they don't shed them completely, but the Supreme Court has in subsequent rulings made it clear that the memorable quote from Tinker vs. Des Moines means less than it was thought to mean at the time. It means even less following Monday's ruling in an Alaska student-speech case. [continues 473 words]
Re: "Justices reveal shift to right," yesterday's news story. If preventing drug use among students is more important than free speech, "No Bong Hits 4 Jesus" T-shirts should be OK. I see a marketing opportunity. Can students be suspended for advocating medical marijuana or lowering the drinking age? Of course, we have decided that safety is more important than liberty. If Chief Justice John Roberts were a real strict constructionist, he would have seen that the First Amendment protects free speech, even if the government really, really wants to punish it. Conservatives are judicial activists for a police state, liberal justices for socialist utopia. Both are wrong. Robert Guest, Ennis [end]
School Districts Have Ability To Censor Speech The Supreme Court of the United States extended the ability of school districts to censor the speech of high school students on Monday, and some Anderson-area students are concerned about what the ruling will mean for them. In 2002 Joseph Frederick, then an 18-year-old high school senior in Juneau, Ala., displayed a 14-foot banner that read "BONG HITS 4 JESUS" as the Olympic torch passed through his town. Mr. Frederick was suspended from school when he refused to take it down. [continues 396 words]
Justices Say Juneau Principal Had A Right To Suspend Student In a 5-4 decision, the U.S Supreme Court ruled that former Juneau-Douglas High School Principal Deborah Morse was within her rights to suspend a student and suppress a banner that said "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Any message "perceived to promote drugs will be determined to be controlled speech," Morse said in a teleconference after the decision. "It will be illegal." "This case eliminates the confusion over whether the First Amendment permits regulation of student speech when such speech is advocating or making light of illegal substances," school Superintendent Peggy Cowan said. [continues 913 words]
The First Amendment rights of students suffered a dent Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against a former Alaska high school student who waved a banner that his principal found objectionable. Popularly known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, the court ruled that then senior Joseph Frederick's teenage hijinks in front of his high school were not protected by the Constitution. The 5-4 court ruling, which split along liberal and conservative lines, is a setback for free speech rights of students. [continues 332 words]
Court Rules Banner Not Free Speech WASHINGTON -- Some Ventura County school officials were pleased with Monday's Supreme Court decision slapping down a high school student's "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner, effectively restricting students' free-speech rights when the message seems to advocate illegal drug use. While critics were saying the case might chill speech on campuses, Ventura County Board of Education member Mary Louise Peterson agreed with the court. "People reading that (banner) could legitimately interpret that as promoting illegal drug use," she said. [continues 620 words]
In the 'BONG HiTS 4 JESUS' case, the Supreme Court muddles the message of an important precedent. ON THE SAME DAY it expanded free speech in the political process, the Supreme Court needlessly narrowed it in the nation's public schools. In upholding the suspension of an Alaska high school student for unfurling a banner declaring "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS" during a field trip, a 5-4 majority drained the life out of one of the court's landmark pronouncements: that children do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." [continues 469 words]
ABOUT the only thing amusing in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case is imagining that the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court may have had to utter the phrase repeatedly before issuing the 5-4 ruling that squeezed off another breath of free speech. Oh, to be a fly on the wall as Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito rolled up their sleeves to bat around the definition of "bong" first as a noun, then as a modifier of "hits" and conclude that their attachment to "4" and "Jesus" constituted an undermining of school officials' efforts to educate students about illegal drugs. [continues 494 words]
Court Sides With Principal In 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Case If the Supreme Court's latest thrashing of student expressive rights doesn't infuriate America's moms and dads, maybe the ruling's implications on their parental authority will. Public schools can stifle student speech that promotes drug use, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday in the case of a student suspended for hoisting a banner with the message "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." In Frederick v. Morse, the Supreme Court ruled that high school administrators didn't violate Joseph Frederick's rights when they suspended him for waving the banner at a Juneau, Alaska public assembly off school grounds in 2002. [continues 461 words]
It is not often that the Daily O'Collegian runs an obituary, but I think this death calls for one. After all, it is one that touches each and every American. The First Amendment, 220, was born September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was fathered by James Madison and adopted by the American people as the part of the U.S. Constitution known as the Bill of Rights. The First Amendment protected the freedom of religion, speech, the press, the public's right to peaceably assemble and citizens' rights to petition the government. In many ways, it was what set America, "the home of the free," apart from the rest of the world. [continues 989 words]
'Bong Hits' Dissent Points to Prohibition Justice John Paul Stevens, the third-oldest person ever to sit on the Supreme Court, turned 87 on April 20. If he's still on the court 142 days from now, he'll overtake Roger B. Taney, who died as chief justice in 1864 at the age of 87 years 209 days. Stevens still has a long way to go if he wants to catch Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who was 90 when he retired from the court in 1932. But he has already started invoking his considerable life experience to buttress his opinions. [continues 491 words]
In its 1969 Tinker decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled an Iowa public school could not expel students who wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War because students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a muddled ruling -- with four justices agreeing, one partially agreeing and three dissenting -- that restricts those free-speech rights, even outside the schoolhouse gate. The story begins in January 2002. An Alaska high school student attending a Winter Olympics Torch Relay on a Juneau sidewalk unfurled a banner that read, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Joseph Frederick hoped that prank would land him on TV news. [continues 344 words]
'Bong' Case Limits Student Speech The U.S. Supreme Court tightened limits on student speech Monday, allowing schools to punish youths for statements that might promote drug use -- a ruling that gives new prominence to laws in California and a handful of other states that provide protections for expression on campus. The 5-3 decision came on a day when the court's conservative majority flexed its muscles with rulings that favored corporate and union political donors, developers and the Bush administration's efforts to steer federal money for social services to religious groups. The final rulings of the 2006-2007 term, including one on whether school districts can consider students' race in integration plans, are scheduled to be released Thursday. [continues 887 words]
IN ITS 1969 Tinker decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Iowa public school could not expel students who wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War because students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a muddled ruling -- with four justices agreeing, one partially agreeing and three dissenting -- that restricts those free-speech rights, even outside the schoolhouse gate. The story begins in January 2002. An Alaska high school student attending a Winter Olympics Torch Relay on a Juneau sidewalk unfurled a banner that read, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Joseph Frederick hoped that prank would land him on TV news. [continues 637 words]
U.S. Supreme Court Rules 5-4 In Favour Of School Who Kicked Out Boy Over A Banner No marijuana jokes, please, we're Americans. That was the message yesterday from a divided United States Supreme Court, which ruled against an Alaska student who was kicked out of his high school for unfurling a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner on a public sidewalk. In a 5-4 decision that restricts the free speech rights of U.S. students, the high court said a school principal was justified in suspending 18-year-old Joseph Frederick because his homemade banner promoted the use of drugs. [continues 363 words]
President Nixon's declaration that drug abuse is "public enemy number one in the United States" in 1971 launched a "war on drugs" that has raged since the war in Vietnam. Like the war in Vietnam then and in Iraq today, this war has proven to be much more complex than a simple "red versus blue" campaign. The soldiers are sworn law enforcement officers and organized crime members playing a dangerous game of "cops and robbers." The victims are varied, some helpless, destitute, or hardened criminals themselves, but all are civilians. [continues 863 words]
Monday's Supreme Court ruling in a highly publicized "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case involving an Alaska high school student probably will have little impact on student expression. That's the opinion of an expert on the First Amendment in the wake of the eagerly awaited ruling. Robert D. Richards, distinguished professor of journalism and law at Penn State University, had another question as well: what does the "bong hits" phrase actually mean? The court declared that public schools can prohibit student speech advocating drug use. [continues 249 words]
In a case limiting the reach of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday came down on the side of free speech. "Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not the censor, " the court said. The 5-4 ruling will allow unions and corporations, including nonprofit public interest groups, to more easily raise their voices on issues as elections near. It was the right call. It's too bad the conservative majority didn't apply that same principle in another free speech case. [continues 583 words]
On Monday, June 25, the Supreme Court ruled against Joseph Frederick in his freedom of speech case that has been active for five years. Frederick posted a banner in 2002 that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a school-sponsored event. He refused to take it down when asked and the principal of the school suspended him for 10 days. Frederick sued and the case landed in the Supreme Courts lap. Frederick sputtered and raged about how his rights were infringed for posting a harmless banner that was meant as a joke. He later even admitted that he did it to purposefully provoke his principal. Frederick was completely aware of the Zero Tolerance policy his school enforced regarding drug paraphernalia, which included his banner promoting bong hits. Yet, he thought his rights were stolen from him. [continues 481 words]
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a potentially damaging blow to students' rights to free speech in a ruling Monday. In 2002, Joseph Frederick unfurled a 14-foot banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" near his school in Juneau, Ala., as the Olympic torch passed through town. Students were being led out to see the torch go by, and Frederick, 18 at the time, was not on school property. A teacher destroyed Frederick's banner and suspended him for 10 days. [continues 363 words]
In its 1969 Tinker decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an Iowa public school could not expel students who wore black armbands to protest the Vietnam War because students do not "shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate." On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a muddled ruling that restricts those rights, even outside the schoolhouse gate. The story begins in January 2002. An Alaska high school student attending a Winter Olympics Torch Relay on a Juneau sidewalk unfurled a banner that read, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus." Joseph Frederick hoped that prank would land him on TV news. [continues 514 words]
WASHINGTON -- No marijuana jokes, please, we're Americans. That was the message yesterday from a divided U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against an Alaska student who was kicked out of his high school for unfurling a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner on a public sidewalk. In a 5-4 decision that restricts the free-speech rights of American students, the high court said a school principal was justified in suspending 18-year-old Joseph Frederick because his homemade banner promoted the use of drugs. [continues 318 words]
Of Bong Hits And First Amendment Freedoms THE SUPREME Court fractured on a case involving student speech rights this week. The result was not good for First Amendment freedoms on campus. In 2002, then-high school senior Joseph Frederick unfurled a banner that read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during a school-sanctioned event across from his Juneau, Alaska, campus. His principal promptly tore it down and suspended the student. Mr. Frederick challenged the punishment, claiming that the principal had violated his First Amendment rights, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit agreed. But on Monday the Supreme Court reversed that decision. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. wrote for the majority: "The 'special characteristics of the school environment' . . . and the governmental interest in stopping student drug abuse -- reflected in the policies of Congress and myriad school boards, including [that of Juneau-Douglas High School] -- allow schools to restrict student expression that they reasonably regard as promoting illegal drug use." [continues 259 words]
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court handed conservatives victories in a raft of 5-to-4 rulings, demonstrating the far-ranging influence of President Bush's two appointees. But the opinions, including closely watched cases involving campaign-finance regulation and student free speech, revealed fissures among the five conservative justices even as the court's rightward tilt drove the four liberals together in unified dissents. Coming near the close of the first full term since the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, the decisions showed how the court is pulling back on liberal precedents long disliked by conservatives, but hasn't yet formed a consensus among the majority bloc on how, and how far, to proceed. [continues 939 words]
WASHINGTON - No marijuana jokes, please, we're Americans. That was the message yesterday from a divided U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against an Alaska student who was kicked out of his high school for unfurling a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner on a public sidewalk. In a 5-4 decision, the high court said a school principal was justified in suspending 18-year-old Joseph Frederick because his homemade banner promoted the use of drugs. "Student speech celebrating illegal drug use ... poses a particular challenge for school officials working to protect those entrusted to their care from the dangers of drug abuse," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "The First Amendment does not require schools to tolerate, at school events, student expression that contributes to those dangers." [continues 90 words]
U.S. Top Court Rules Banner Promoted The Use Of Drugs Sheldon Alberts CanWest News Service, with files from Reuters WASHINGTON - In a decision that restricts the free-speech rights of students, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against an Alaska student who was suspended from high school for unfurling a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner on a public sidewalk. In a 5-4 decision, the court said a school principal was justified in suspending 18-year-old Joseph Frederick because his homemade banner promoted the use of drugs. [continues 609 words]
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court tightened limits on student speech Monday, ruling against a high school student and his 14-foot-long "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner. Schools may prohibit student expression that can be interpreted as advocating drug use, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the court in a 5-4 ruling. Joseph Frederick unfurled his homemade sign on a winter morning in 2002, as the Olympic torch made its way through Juneau, Alaska, en route to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. [continues 260 words]
President Nixon's declaration that drug abuse is "public enemy number one in the United States" in 1971 launched a "war on drugs" that has raged since the war in Vietnam. Like the war in Vietnam then and in Iraq today, this war has proven to be much more complex than a simple "red versus blue" campaign. The soldiers are sworn law enforcement officers and organized crime members playing a dangerous game of "cops and robbers." The victims are varied, some helpless, destitute, or hardened criminals themselves, but all are civilians. [continues 943 words]
Domestic News- Policy COMMENT: (5-9) If you've ever been curious about Salvia divinorum, the time for ingesting it legally is nearing an end. Four states have already banned it and Wisconsin now joins 7 other states with pending legislation. The Atlantic Monthly published a fairly extensive review of Plan Colombia beginning with the 15 and 20 ton recent cocaine busts. After 7 years and 5 billion dollars, cocaine production has not decreased and U.S. street prices have dropped from the 1980's $600 grams to 2007 $50 grams. [continues 6639 words]
Regarding James Kilpatrick's thoughtful April 7 opinion column, alcohol kills more people each year than all illegal drugs combined. Prescription overdose deaths are now second only to motor-vehicle crashes as a cause of death from unintentional injury (Centers for Disease Control report, http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5605a1.htm.) Television is filled with sophisticated pro-drug messages paid for by alcohol and pharmaceutical companies. The Bush administration doesn't have a problem with corporate drug pushers. But hoist a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at an off-campus high school rally in Alaska, and they will fight you all the way to the Supreme Court. It is not clear how this nonsensical phrase somehow merits limiting free speech. [continues 93 words]
Re Nat Hentoff's 'Saving Free Speech and Jesus' [April 11--17]: Alcohol kills more people each year than all illegal drugs combined. Prescription-overdose deaths are now second only to motor-vehicle crashes as a cause of death from unintentional injury. Television is filled with sophisticated pro-drug messages paid for by alcohol and pharmaceutical companies. The Bush administration doesn't have a problem with corporate drug pushers. But hoist a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at an off-campus high school rally in Alaska, and they will fight you all the way to the Supreme Court. [continues 106 words]
Dear Editor, Regarding Dave Johnston's April 12 column: Alcohol kills more people each year than all illegal drugs combined. Prescription overdose deaths are now second only to motor-vehicle crashes as a cause of death from unintentional injury. Television is filled with sophisticated pro-drug messages paid for by alcohol and pharmaceutical companies. The Bush administration doesn't have a problem with corporate drug pushers. But hoist a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at an off-campus high school rally in Alaska, and they will fight you all the way to the Supreme Court. It is not clear how this nonsensical phrase somehow merits limiting free speech. [continues 122 words]
Alcohol kills more people each year than all illegal drugs combined. Prescription overdose deaths are now second only to motor-vehicle crashes as a cause of death from unintentional injury. Television is filled with sophisticated pro-drug messages paid for by alcohol and pharmaceutical companies. The Bush administration doesn't have a problem with corporate drug pushers, but hoist a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner at an off-campus high school rally in Alaska, and they will fight you all the way to the Supreme Court. [continues 101 words]
Eastern York's Case Like 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' Case, They Say David Hudson said he doesn't know whether the Eastern York School District would have a legal leg to stand on if it had continued a ban on students' magnets in schools, or just the magnet that said, "Smile God Loves You." He's waiting to hear how "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" turns out. That case, which awaits a Supreme Court ruling expected in June, started five years ago when a high-school principal confiscated a student's banner bearing the drug and religious references. And it has a lot in common with the issue at Wrightsville Elementary School, said Hudson, a lawyer and scholar at the First Amendment Center. [continues 1190 words]
Hey there, everybody, bong hits 4 Jesus! I thought that might get your attention. When a high school senior in Juneau, Alaska, was busted for holding up a 14-foot sign reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a parade, he undoubtedly never dreamed his actions would be argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. Not to mention debated by the kids in Tim Nyenhuis' government class at D.C. Everest Junior High School in Weston. "I would take it as a drug sign" and therefore contrary to the policies of the school, Jeff Howdeshell argued to his fellow ninth-graders who were portraying Supreme Court justices as a class project. [continues 460 words]
April 12, 2007 - Guest Columnist - Warren Spade, U.S. Department of Education Good morning, UCSD High School! Your principal asked me to come here today to explain the limitations on your constitutional rights, namely your "right" to free speech. Have any of you heard of something called the Bill of Rights? ... No one? Good. Well, the Bill of Rights lets you say anything you want and there's nothing your principal can do about it! Just kidding. In fact, as students at a public high school your speech can be censored by your teachers and your principal in a number of ways. [continues 787 words]
Bad cases, they say, make bad law. You will not find many cases at the Supreme Court as bad in every way as the pending case of Morse v. Frederick. It was argued two weeks ago and will be decided before the court's term ends in June. The omens are not auspicious. The Morse in this case is Deborah Morse, principal of the public high school in Juneau, Alaska. The Frederick is Joseph Frederick. At the time of this brouhaha he was an 18- year-old senior student. [continues 670 words]
