Lambda Legal Supports Student in First Amendment Lawsuit Before the U. S. Supreme Court

(Washington, February 20, 2007) — Lambda Legal filed friend-of-the-court papers today in support of a high school student’s right to display a banner with the words “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” at a non-school-sponsored event.

“We have a long history of settled law that clearly states that students don’t check their freedom of speech at the door when they go to school each morning,” said Greg Nevins, Senior Staff Attorney at Lambda Legal, one of the team of authors that penned the brief. “Lambda Legal spoke out on this case because, if school administrators were permitted to silence a student for displaying a sign they didn’t like, what’s to stop them from banning discussions of gay rights if they’re homophobic or trying to gag students who want to talk about evolution if the administrators believe in creationism?”

In January 2002, Juneau-Douglas High School students were released from school so they could watch the Olympic torch pass by their school in Juneau, Alaska. Joseph Frederick was then an 18-year-old student at the school, and he and some friends decided to unfurl a banner that read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” in the hope that the banner, which they considered humorous, would garner them some airtime on national television.

Once Frederick unfurled the banner, Deborah Morse, the school’s principal, crossed to the other side of the street from the school to where Frederick and his friends were standing and then grabbed and crumpled up their banner. She subsequently disciplined Frederick with 10 days of suspension because she claimed that the sign violated the school’s mission of promoting a drug-free lifestyle.

Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief in Frederick v. Morse because of the implications the decision might have for gay students if the court were to rule in favor of the school officials. Lambda Legal is concerned that, if the court were to find in the school’s favor, school administrators might believe they were permitted to silence students who otherwise would come out as gay, lesbian or bisexual by barring any speech or behaviors that express their status as non-heterosexual.

“The courts have stated quite clearly that there are very few instances in which students may be kept from expressing themselves freely in their speech, and those exceptions just don’t apply in this case,” Nevins said. “Courts have held that if speech is not lewd or curriculum-based, a student’s expression is protected by the First Amendment, so long as the speech is not likely to disrupt school order substantially or interferes with the rights of others.”

The last time the Supreme Court of the United States weighed in on students’ freedom of speech was in 1988 when it issued its decision in Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier. Morse v. Frederick is scheduled to be argued on Monday, March 19, 2007.

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Mark Roy: 212-809-8585 ext. 267; mroy@lambdalegal.org.

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.