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Transcript

Morse vs. Frederick

"Bong Hits 4 Jesus"

History of the case

Morse's side

  • At a parade for the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay, 18 year old Joseph Frederick and a group of his friends held up a banner saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus".
  • The students did not have school so that they could attend this school supervised event across street from the school.
  • Principal Morse asked him to take it down as it promoted illegal drug use.
  • When Frederick refused, the banner was confiscated and Frederick was suspended for 10 days.

Morse stated that the sign was promoting illegal drug use and therefore as an educator it was her job to put a stop to it.

Frederick's side

Frederick filed suit, alleging that the school board and Morse were attacking his first amendment rights of freedom of speech.

Resolution

The court with a vote of 5-4, ruled that the first amendment does not prevent educators from suppressing school speech, at school sponsored events and the banner was viewed as promoting illegal drug use. Therefore the school board and Morse won the case.

This case created a standard that students, once on school property, don't have the same rights as other citizens. The freedom of speech of one person isn't nearly as important as the safety and well being of the rest of the student body.

The cartoon is explaining how it's okay for big companies to donate to campaigns due to free speech, but a student can't joke about bongs because it doesn't count as freedom of speech because he's in school.

Side A

Side B