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Analysis Of The 2007 Supreme Court Case Of Morse V. Frederick

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Joseph Frederick held a banner saying “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at Juneau-Douglas High School during an Olympic Torch Relay on January 24, 2004. The principal of the school Deborah Morse asked Joseph to put the banner away but he refused to do so. Morse took the banner from him and for not putting it away Morse gave Joseph a ten day suspension from school. The principal thought that the banner was encouraging the use of illegal drugs. Joseph took the situation into his own hands and went to court for it saying that his First Amendment, Freedom of Speech was violated. In the 2007 Supreme Court case “Morse v. Frederick” the court’s 5-4 verdict expanded the First Amendment protection to students unless it caused a disturbance to those around them. (Oyez) …show more content…

Frederick case started as a federal court case. The Lower court’s decided that school officials can restrict students from presenting messages that encourage illegal drug use. The Chief Justice John Roberts said that students have the right to their Freedom of Speech but if they spoke about drugs they did not because schools were trying to discourage the use of illegal drugs or any in general. The majority stated “ Frederick’s message, though “cryptic” was reasonably interpreted as promoting marijuana.”(Oyez) This means that the teacher had the right to take the banner because it was portraying marijuana use. The court stated that the speech rights for students were different as those for adults. Justice Thomas said “ the right to free speech does not apply to students and wish to see Tinker overturned all together.” (Oyez) They all agreed with Morse and thought that the banner was portraying the use of illegal drugs. This case was taken to the Supreme Court because Frederick did not agree with what they said and he still thought that his rights were …show more content…

Frederick case precedents were used. Tinker v. Des Moines (1969), Bethel v. Fraser (1986), and Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier (1988) were the precedents used during the Morse v. Frederick court case. When the court mentioned the Tinker v. Des Moines case as a precedent they said according to the First Amendment students had the right to Freedom of Speech but “can only be prohibited if it substantially disrupts the educational process.”(United States Courts) In this case Tinker said that the wearing of “armbands by students to protest the Vietnam War” was protected through the First Amendment because it was a “protected political speech”. (United States Courts) During the Bethel v. Fraser case the case stated that the rights of students are not as “coextensive”, meaning they are not the same as the Freedom of Speech rights adults have. (United States Courts) In the Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier case they said that the students rights to Freedom of Speech depended on the environment they were in. The Court looked over the Morse v. Frederick case and considered the environment the student was in, took into consideration that Frederick was indeed a student so he did not have much of a right as an adult did to Freedom of Speech, and if the banner disrupted the school or school related activity in any type of

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