Justices agree to hear 'bong hits' banner case

WASHINGTON (MCT) — 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 First 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.

The Supreme Court is expected to begin hearing the case in late February.