Justices Hear Case of Teen's Banner

STUDENT CLAIMED RIGHT TO DISPLAY 'BONG' SIGN AT EVENT

WASHINGTON - High school students may have a right to free speech,
but it does not include the freedom to unfurl a banner promoting
"bong hits" during a school activity, the Supreme Court was told Monday.

An unusual case from Alaska tests whether principals and teachers can
punish students for banners, buttons or other messages that conflict
with the goals and policies set by school officials.

During Monday's argument, former U.S. Solicitor General Kenneth Starr
and a Bush administration attorney urged the justices to defer to
school officials when deciding what messages are appropriate on and
near a high school campus.

"Illegal drugs and the glorification of the drug culture are
profoundly serious problems for our nation," said Starr, now the dean
of the Pepperdine University Law School. He represents a school
principal from Juneau, Alaska, who was sued for ripping away the
banner and suspending the student who unfurled it.

Permitting the banner would be "interpreted as an encouragement of
the drug culture," Starr said.

An attorney representing the student said the right to free speech
should prevail so long as the message did not disrupt classrooms or
the education process. "This is a case about free speech. It is not a
case about drugs," said Douglas Mertz, an attorney from Juneau.

His client, Joseph Frederick, was an 18-year-old senior in 2002 when
the torch for the Winter Olympics was scheduled to pass in front of
the high school. Frederick was standing on a public street as the TV
cameras came into range. He and several other students then unfurled
the 14-foot banner that said, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."

The school's principal, Deborah Morse, ripped it away from the
students and sent Frederick to the office. She planned to suspend him
for five days, but when he invoked Thomas Jefferson and the First
Amendment, she doubled the suspension.

Frederick sued, alleging Morse had violated his constitutional rights.

A federal judge rejected his claim, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals ruled for the student and said the principal could be forced
to pay damages.

No damages have been set, and the school board urged the Supreme
Court to overrule the 9th Circuit.

During Monday's argument, most justices seemed to lean in favor of
Morse, who no longer is a principal but still works in the school
district. However, they sounded unsure of where to draw a line
between a student's free-speech right and the principal's authority.
Several also said they worried about giving school officials
unchecked power to control what students say.

"I find that a very, very disturbing argument," Justice Samuel Alito
Jr. said. School officials could "suppress all sorts of political
speech and speech expressing fundamental values of the students under
the banner of getting rid of speech that's inconsistent with the
educational mission."

Several religious-rights groups filed briefs supporting the student's
free-speech right in this case. They worry that school officials
might say it was inappropriate for a student to wear a T-shirt that
praised Jesus Christ.

Starr said the court could rule narrowly and give principals the
power to forbid signs and banners promoting drugs, alcohol or tobacco.