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The United States Supreme Court today will hear its first big dispute on student free-speech rights in almost 20 years because of a case in Juneau, Alaska where a high school principal violated a students free-speech right by suspending him for displaying a banner which read "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."
The student, Joseph Frederick, says that he displayed the banner as a joke and to be funny not to mention getting himself on television as the Winter Olympic torch passed by.
Frederick was suspended for ten days by principal Deborah Morse because the banner advocated or promoted illegal drug use in violation of school policy, according to her. Source
It is worth noting that Mr. Frederick was standing on a public sidewalk across from the school when the principal grabbed his banner and crumpled it. The students were allowed out of class to watch the torch as it passed by.
Though Mr. Frederick may have done something that was in bad taste, I see no reason for him to have been suspended since that banner was not on the school grounds while being displayed. I'm no legal expert but I would think that the school policy doesn't mean to much if the incident happened off-grounds.
We'll see how this works out but it would be a not to good thing for the Supreme Court to side with the school on this one. The Bush administration sides with the school, of course. Anything to stifle freedom of expression is fine with this group of clowns.
Ken Starr will present his case behalf of the principal and the school board.
Frederick's lawyer, Douglas Mertz of Juneau, is supported by the American Civil Liberties Union. Source
A decision is expected in June.
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