Morse v. Frederick: Information and Resources

Joseph Frederick was suspended in 2002 for displaying a sign saying "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" at a rally for the Olympic torch relay. The rally was an off-campus event not sponsored by Frederick's school. A federal appeals court agreed with the ACLU that the school had violated Frederick's right to free speech. The Supreme Court heard the case during the 2006 term and ruled that Alaska public school officials did not violate Joseph Frederick's free speech rights by punishing him. In a criticism of the decision, Steven R. Shapiro said, "The Court's ruling imposes new restrictions on student speech rights and creates a drug exception to the First Amendment." Read more >>

The Supreme Court's ruling is also a judgment on whether Tinker v. Des Moines, the test for virtually all student speech cases since 1969, remains good law. In Tinker, the Supreme Court said that young people do not "shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate," ruling that students have the right to free speech at school, as long as their speech does not disrupt the educational process.

AUDIO
	Mary Beth Tinker, plaintiff in the 1969 Supreme Court free speech case Tinker v. Des Moines, discusses First Amendment rights with Joseph Frederick. podcast \|streaming

	Plaintiff Joseph Frederick, his attorney Doug Mertz, and ACLU legal director Steven Shapiro talk about student free speech rights. podcast \| streaming

VIDEO

> Free-speech advocates and attorneys speak from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court after oral arguments in Morse v. Frederick. (YouTube)

PHOTOS
Courtesy of the Frederick Family Frederick in a high school yearbook photo	Courtesy of Joseph Frederick Frederick shortly after arriving in China	Photo obtained from court docket, Courtesy of Clay Good Frederick displaying the banner at a 2002 rally for the Olympic torch relay
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