TOP COURT TAKES 'BONG HITS' CASE ON FREE SPEECH

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear a
free-speech case from Alaska known as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus"
dispute, in which a high school principal suspended a student for
displaying that phrase on a banner.

The case, which hinges on the extent free-speech rights are afforded
to students, drew national interest after former Whitewater
prosecutor Kenneth Starr took the case in August.

Acting on behalf of the Juneau school district, Starr petitioned the
Supreme Court to take up the case after the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled in favor of the student, saying the school violated his
1st Amendment rights. The case has turned on the fuzzy line
separating students' free-speech rights and school officials'
authority to enforce anti-drug policies.

"The school boards and the administrators need guidance as to the
appropriate line between the enforcement of existing and common
school policies on one hand and the rights of students to engage in
certain types of speech on the other hand," Starr said.

The controversy erupted in 2002 after Joseph Frederick, then a senior
at Alaska's Juneau Douglas High School, displayed a banner
proclaiming "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" while standing on a sidewalk across
the street from the school as the Winter Olympics torch was passing
through Juneau.

Then-Principal Deborah Morse confiscated the banner and suspended
Frederick from school for 10 days.

The event took place during school hours, but the school had let
students out of class to watch the torch event.

The school district argued that the student was promoting marijuana
use. Frederick said he wrote the nonsensical phrase because he
thought it was funny and would get him on television.

Because the demonstration occurred outside the classroom and did not
disrupt school activity, the school had violated the student's
free-speech rights by punishing him, the appeals court found.

In the court opinion, Judge Andrew Kleinfeld wrote that "public
schools are instrumentalities of government, and government is not
entitled to suppress speech that undermines whatever missions it
defines for itself."

The school district, saying the issue was whether students should be
allowed to promote illegal drug use in an educational setting,
retained Starr to help them take the case to the high court.

Starr became a national figure in the 1990s while investigating
then-President Bill Clinton's involvement with the Whitewater real
estate deal and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. He and his law firm,
Kirkland & Ellis, have taken the case pro bono.

Doug Mertz, the student's attorney, said the appeals court ruling
validated students' free-speech rights.

"A student has the right to peacefully and respectfully state an
opinion different from that of the school officials," he said. "We
welcome the opportunity to have the Supreme Court review it."