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]
