Supreme Court delivers hit to First Amendment

July 15, 2007

Valley Voice: Bill Siedler

It's funny how we track spans of time to or from significant dates. As of this printing, it's been 1,537 days since &#8220mission accomplished” was declared in Iraq. It's also four days until Vic Kohring is supposed to officially resign from the state Legislature. Importantly for public school students, parents, teachers and administrators in Juneau, the Mat-Su Valley and across the United States, it has also been 20 days since the &#8220Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case went up in smoke before the U.S. Supreme Court.

When Mat-Su schools open 36 days hence, it will be the law of the land.

Most educators in our school district were at least vaguely aware of the case, also known by its legally formal (and less fun-to-say) name: Morse v. Frederick (2007). The freshmen in my Law Related Studies classes (a great course, since demoted and no longer required by the district) followed the case as it wound its way up through the judicial system. I even assigned an in-class essay on &#8220Bong Hits” and not surprisingly, nearly all the kids in all classes responded that the banner reading &#8220Bong Hits 4 Jesus” was silly, trivial and dumb.

Not surprisingly as well was the class thought Juneau-Douglas High School student Joe Frederick (known to his classmates as &#8220Camaro Joe”) was within his First Amendment rights to hold his banner high in front of the TV cameras that were there to record the passing of the Olympic torch through town on its way to Salt Lake City in 2002.

They also thought vice principal Morse (of Morse v. Frederick) was out of line when she grabbed the banner, wadded it up and assessed a five-day suspension against Frederick. That ultimately became an eight-day suspension - due to a bit much of Camaro Joe's Jefferson-quoting mouth after-the-fact.

My class thought this knowing that, even though it took place off school grounds, the school's participation in the event was nominally official.

Not so, as it turns out. Before the Supreme Court, the school district's attorney, Kenneth Starr - yes, that Ken Starr - successfully defended vice-principal Morse's confiscation of the offending banner and Camaro Joe's suspension. Again, my freshmen thought the banner silly and dumb; a non-sensical bit of whimsy and a chance to get on TV. Starr and five of the high nine thought otherwise. The majority opinion is vice principal Morse &#8220reasonably concluded that it [the banner] advocated the use of illegal drugs.”

The four dissenting justices opined that high school students can be dumb and act dumb, but they do not check their brains at the school door,and that they &#8220know dumb advocacy [or a dumb banner] when they see it.”

By a 5-4 decision of the Supreme Court, Siedler's Law Related Studies class backed the losing side of the issue. We agreed with Justice Stevens (losing side) that it is implausible that Camaro Joe's banner would change the behavior of even the dumbest student, whether in Juneau, the Valley or anywhere else.

Besides, if to anyone, to whom was the banner advocating drug use? According to the writing on the banner, it would be Jesus, wouldn't it?

Schools deal with all kinds of student rights/responsibilities issues everyday. Some of the most common are privacy issues. When can lockers, backpacks and vehicles be searched? Those are health and safety issues that deal with the problem of tobacco, alcohol, drugs and weapons that get into our schools. In 1985, the Supreme Court decided in New Jersey v. T.L.O. that teachers and administrators have the authority to inspect purses, backpacks and lockers if they have &#8220reasonable suspicion” that something illegal might be found.

Camaro Joe wasn't in school dealing drugs, however, and he wasn't on the street dealing drugs. He was on the street holding a banner neither my freshmen nor I thought was even advocating drug use. To us, it was whimsical, silly and dumb.

Might the greater lesson for my class be that a dumb, but probably innocent, stunt by a student with a history of confrontation and testing authority may cause a school administrator to overreact, not just making a federal case out it, but a U.S. Supreme Court case? Bong Hits 4 Jesus indeed.

What next, &#8220A Doobie 4 the Dali Llama?”