Supreme Court Weighs ‘Bong Hits’ Speech Case

Jay Hartman, left, a University of Maryland student, and Alicia Cook, a high school senior from Bethesda, Md., rally in support of student free speech outside the U.S. Supreme Court on March 19.

—Christopher Powers/Education Week

By Andrew Trotter

Washington

The U.S. Supreme Court appeared sharply divided today on whether a high school student’s banner proclaiming “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” outside an Alaska high school was protected speech or a message that school authorities could suppress because it ran counter to their policies against the promotion of illegal drugs.

Justice Stephen G. Breyer seemed to capture the court’s concerns as the justices heard arguments in Morse v. Frederick (Case No. 06-278).

“It’s pretty hard to run a school where kids go around at public events publicly making a joke out of drugs,” Justice Breyer told Douglas K. Mertz, the lawyer representing former high school student Joseph Frederick, who was suspended for 10 days in 2002...