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 decision--a ruling
that could also have implications for religious
expression in schools.
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.
Frederick said
the banner was a nonsensical message that he first saw on
a snowboard. He intended the banner to proclaim his right to
say anything at all.
His principal,
Deborah Morse, said the phrase was a pro-drug message that
had no place at a school-sanctioned event. Frederick denied
that he was advocating for drug use.
''The message on
Frederick's banner is cryptic,'' Roberts said. ''But
Principal Morse thought the banner would be interpreted by
those viewing it as promoting illegal drug use, and
that interpretation is plainly a reasonable one.''
Morse suspended
the student, prompting a federal civil rights lawsuit.
The winning side
in the case was quick to assert that the decision was
not anti-free speech.
In their
concurrence, justices Samuel Alito and Anthony Kennedy
specified that the court's opinion provides no support
for any restriction on speech concerning political or
social issues.
It's a narrow
ruling that ''should not be read more broadly,'' said
Kenneth Starr, whose law firm represented the school
principal.
Students in
public schools don't have the same rights as adults, but
neither do they leave their constitutional protections at
the schoolhouse gate, as the court said in a landmark
speech-rights ruling from the Vietnam War era.
The court has
limited what students can do in subsequent cases, saying
they may not be disruptive or lewd, or interfere with a
school's basic educational mission.
Frederick, now
23, said he later had to drop out of college after his
father lost his job. The elder Frederick, who worked for the
company that insures the Juneau schools, was fired in
connection with his son's legal fight, the son said. A
jury recently awarded Frank Frederick $200,000 in a
lawsuit he filed over his firing.
Joseph Frederick,
who has been teaching and studying in China, pleaded
guilty in 2004 to a misdemeanor charge of selling marijuana
at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches,
Texas, according to court records.
Conservative
groups that often are allied with the Administration are
backing Frederick out of concern that a ruling for Morse
would let schools clamp down on religious expression,
including speech that might oppose homosexuality or
abortion.
The case is
Morse v. Frederick, 06-278. (Mark Sherman,
AP)