St. Louis CofCC Blog

Cybercast News Service:

Also on Monday, the Justices overturned a lower-court ruling that found a public school in Juneau violated Joe Frederick’s First Amendment rights by forcing him to remove the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” sign - even though he was not standing on school property.

The school suspended Frederick for the prank.

The Justices decided that schools have leeway to fight anything deemed to be a pro-drug message, since that is part of their mission.

Breitbart/AP:

The case drew heavy hitters on Frederick’s side including the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Center for Law and Justice.

Some religious groups also backed Frederick, putting President George W. Bush’s conservative base at odds with the administration, which sided with the school.

Previous coverage of the “Bong Hits for Jesus” case by this blogmeister on another medium may be found here and here.

This ruling is potentially dangerous because now, public school districts can suspend their students for any political activity outside of school if the activity does not square with the “mission” of the school. The Court’s ruling was based around the “mission of the school” edict, not the “improper time, place and manner” edict; if the Court would have used the latter as legal reasoning in a decision for the Juneau district and against Mr. Frederick, it would not have these far-reaching consequences.

Because nearly all public schools have a “mission” of racial diversity and equality, high school students who become involved publicly in decidedly anti-egalitarian political organizations like the Council of Conservative Citizens, could be suspended for violating the school’s “mission.” That this would have a chilling effect on the First Amendment, something which the U.S. Supreme Court usually tries to prevent studiously.

The ACLJ, considered a conservative analogue to the ACLU, and various conservative Christian (”religious right”) groups, joined Mr. Frederick’s side, because they know that public schools will use their “mission” of religious “tolerance” and non-establishment to punish Christian students, even if their Christianity is only expressed outside of school.