Morse v. Frederick
| Morse v. Frederick | |
|---|---|
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| Argued March 19, 2007 Decided June 25, 2007 |
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| Full case name | Deborah Morse and the Juneau School Board, et al., Petitioners v. Joseph Frederick |
| Docket nos. | 06-278 |
| Citations | 551 U.S. 393 (more)
127 S. Ct. 2618; 168 L. Ed. 2d 290; 2007 U.S. LEXIS 8514; 75 U.S.L.W. 4487; 20 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 431; 220 Ed. Law Rep. 50; 07 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7248; 2007 Daily Journal D.A.R. 9448
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| Argument | Oral argument |
| Prior history | Summary judgment for defendant granted, No. J 02-008 CV(JWS), 2003 WL 25274689 (D. Alaska May 27, 2003); rev'd, 439 F.3d 1114 (9th Cir. 2006); cert. granted, 127 S. Ct. 722 (2006) |
| Holding | |
| Because schools may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use, the school officials in this case did not violate the First Amendment by confiscating the pro-drug banner and suspending Frederick. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Roberts, joined by Scalia, Kennedy, Thomas, Alito |
| Concurrence | Thomas |
| Concurrence | Alito, joined by Kennedy |
| Concur/dissent | Breyer |
| Dissent | Stevens, joined by Souter, Ginsburg |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV; 42 U.S.C. § 1983 | |
Morse v. Frederick, 551 U.S. 393 (2007), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held, 5–4, that the First Amendment does not prevent educators from suppressing, at or across the street from a school-supervised event, student speech that is reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use.
In 2002, Juneau-Douglas High School principal Deborah Morse suspended Joseph Frederick after he displayed a banner reading "BONG HiTS [sic] 4 JESUS" across the street from the school during the 2002 Olympic Torch Relay. Frederick sued, claiming his constitutional rights to free speech were violated. His suit was dismissed by the federal district court, but on appeal, the Ninth Circuit reversed, concluding that Frederick's speech rights were violated.
Chief Justice Roberts, writing for the majority, concluded that the school officials did not violate the First Amendment. To do so, he made three legal determinations: first, that "school speech" doctrine should apply because Frederick's speech occurred "at a school event"; second, that the speech was "reasonably viewed as promoting illegal drug use"; and third, that a principal may legally restrict that speech—based on the three existing First Amendment school speech precedents, other Constitutional jurisprudence relating to schools, and a school's "important, indeed, perhaps compelling interest" in deterring drug use by students.
One scholar noted that "by its plain language, Morse's holding is narrow in that it expressly applies only to student speech promoting illegal drug use." She adds, however, that courts could nonetheless apply it to other student speech that, like speech encouraging illegal drug use, similarly undermines schools' educational missions or threatens students' safety. "Further, Morse arguably permits viewpoint discrimination of purely political speech whenever that speech mentions illegal drugs—a result seemingly at odds with the First Amendment."
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