Source: https://w1.mtsu.edu/first-amendment/article/690/morse-v-frederick
Timestamp: 2019-04-25 06:38:18+00:00

Document:
In Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393 (2007), often referred to as the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case, the Supreme Court ruled that it is not a denial of the First Amendment right to free speech for public school officials to censor student speech that they reasonably believe encourages illegal drug use.
The case began in January 2002 when Joseph Frederick, an 18-year-old student at Juneau-Douglas High School in Alaska, unfurled a 14-foot banner with the message “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” as the Winter Olympics torch relay passed by a public street near his school. Frederick had skipped school that day, intent on displaying his message before television cameras. Frederick, who stood off-campus with several others with his banner, claimed he picked this message not for any commentary on drugs or religion, but simply as a First Amendment experiment to test his free speech rights.
School principal Deborah Morse grabbed the banner and ordered Frederick to her office. She initially suspended him for five days. After Frederick quoted Thomas Jefferson’s “speech limited is speech lost,” she doubled his suspension period.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed, finding that Morse violated Frederick’s First Amendment rights when she punished him based on the content of his speech without showing that his expression would cause any type of disruption. According to the Ninth Circuit, her actions violated the principles of the Supreme Court’s landmark studentspeech precedent, Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969). The Ninth Circuit also ruled that Morse was not entitled to qualified immunity because it was clearly established that Frederick had a First Amendment right to display his banner.
Morse and the school board appealed to the Supreme Court with the free legal assistance of former federal appeals court judge and independent counsel Kenneth Starr. Morse argued that the Ninth Circuit strayed from the Court’s later student-speech decision of Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser (1986) and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988). The Supreme Court ruled that Morse did not violate Joseph Frederick’s First Amendment rights.
Roberts first dismissed the argument that the case was not a student speech case at all. He noted that the torch relay was an “approved social event” at which many students participated. “There is some uncertainty at the outer boundaries as to when courts should apply school-speech precedents, but not on these facts,” he wrote.
Justice John Paul Stevens—joined by Justices David H. Souter and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—dissented on the underlying First Amendment question. He wrote that “the Court does serious violence to the First Amendment in upholding—even, lauding—a school’s decision to punish Frederick for expressing a view with which it disagreed.” According to Stevens, the majority sanctioned “stark viewpoint discrimination.” Stevens did agree with the majority that Principal Morse should be entitled to qualified immunity.
Justice Samuel A. Alito, joined by Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, wrote a concurring opinion, which joined the majority on the understanding that “it goes no further than to hold that a public school may restrict speech that a reasonable observer would interpret as advocating illegal drug use” and would not restrict student speech about a legitimate political issue, such as the legalization of marijuana for medicinal purposes.
Justice Stephen G. Breyer concurred in part, reasoning that the Court should not resolve the underlying First Amendment issue but simply rule for Principal Morse on qualified immunity grounds.
Denning, Brandon P. and Molly C. Taylor. "Morse v. Frederick and the Regulation of Student Cyberspeech." Hastings Constituional Law Quarterly 35 (2008): 835-897.
Greenhouse, Linda. “Vote against Banner Shows Divide on Speech in Schools.” New York Times, June 26, 2007.
Hentoff, Nat. “Saving Free Speech and Jesus.” Village Voice, April 9, 2007.
Hudson, David L. Jr. Let the Students Speak!: A History of the Fight for Free Expression in American Schools. Boston: Beacon Press, 2011.
Ross, Catherine J. Lessons in Censorship: How Schools and Courts Subvert Students’ First Amendment Rights. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2015.
Harrow, Jason. "Commentary on Morse v. Frederick." Supreme Court of the United States Blog, June 27, 2007.
Poser, Bill. "The Supreme Court Fails Semantics." Language Log, July 7, 2007.
Noder, Shannon L. "Morse v. Frederick: Students' First Amendment Rights Restricted Again." Valparaiso University Law Review 43 (2009): 859-870.
Calvert, Clay. "Misuse and Abuse of Morse v. Frederick by Lower Courts: Stretching the High Court's Ruling Too Far to Censor Student Expression." Seattle University Law Review 32 (2008): 1-34.

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