On March 19th the Supreme Court will hear the case of the Juneau, Alaska School Board Vs. Joseph Frederick. Four years ago when the Olympic torch passed through Juneau, Frederick held up a banner that said,"Bong Hits For Jesus."
The event took place off school grounds, however Frederick was handed a ten day suspension. This penalty however was turned over in appeals court and has now made it all the way to the highest court in our nation. This case will literally determine a students free speech when talking about drugs at all.
The school board said that the 10 day suspension penalty was warranted due to the school's drug free mission. Even though this was off campus and a person has every right to say anything that doesn't offend or hurt anyone. The idea that the School Board has been willing to rack up $100,000 dollars in legal fees over this is very sad. Tax payer dollars have been extremely wasted and if the school board loses they will be forces to pay the additional $100,000 in legal fees that Frederick has racked up.
The DC office of Students for Sensible Drug Policy has filed a Amicus Curiae Brief to the Supreme court on behalf of Frederick. The brief highlights how important it is for students to be able and discuss the important issue that is drugs. With so much drug war propaganda being focused at students the idea they would not be able to take part in the discussion is nothing less then absurd.
Ken Starr had also decided to take the case for free, apparently the extra marital activities of the republican party just aren't flashy enough for him.
Recently a High School student who wanted to form a chapter of SSDP saw much opposition from his school over their drug free policy. The ACLU was kind enough to change that Principal's opinion with a simple phone call. Hopefully the Supreme Court will also see this as a basic instance of free speech that just pushed a few people's buttons.
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