'Bong Hits 4 Jesus': Student Protest Goes to Supreme Court

[Sequoia]

Joseph Frederick, a student rebel halfway through his senior year of high school, tried the patience of his principal when he displayed a drug-referenced sign — Bong Hits 4 Jesus — at a public parade in Juneau, Alaska in 2002.

The 18-year-old had fashioned a 14-foot paper banner, which he held as the Olympic torch passed across the street from his high school on a national relay leading up to the 2002 winter games in Salt Lake City.

Frederick said he wanted to capture the attention of TV cameras — and the ire of his principal.

Principal Deborah Morse, who had previously disciplined Frederick for other acts of protest, confiscated the banner and suspended Frederick, sparking a feud that has gone all the way to the Supreme Court.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2953653&page=1

[MADem]

1. Barney Frank on free speech: Free speech is for assholes!!

That's what he said on the OVERTIME portion of REAL TIME a few weeks back. He indicated that is why free speech needs special protections. If people were only saying popular things, there'd be no need to protect it.

And how they can hook this to TINKER, I've no idea:

The school charges that Frederick's banner promoted drug use and had an offensive religious message. Frederick says the language — which he had seen on a snowboard — is meaningless.

Frederick's case has been taken up by the American Civil Liberties Union, which agrees the message on his banner was controversial, but he had the right to express it. The ACLU further argues that student free speech restrictions since Tinker do not apply: The event was not school-sponsored and he was not disruptive. ....All agree that Frederick was a rabble-rouser. The school had previously called police when he refused to leave a common area. The next day, he was disciplined after he remained seated during the Pledge of Allegiance.

"I never professed to be a saint," Frederick, now 23 and teaching English in China, told reporters at an ACLU teleconference.

...."They didn't like what he said, and the thought he wanted to convey, and it was censored," said Shapiro. "That would permit schools to censor student speech whenever they chose to and completely unravel the Court's understanding of the last 40 years."

[MLFerrell]

2. Take her to the cleaners, kid...

How the hell does ANY school official have the right to punish this kid?

According to the article: "The event was not school-sponsored and Frederick was not disruptive."

What the fuck is this principal's problem?

[damntexdem]

3. WWJS?

And what was the principal smoking to allow herself to get pulled into this?

[geardaddy]

4. I think Jesus would have smoked hash. n/t

That seems about his taste. :)