'Bong Hits' case heads back to court
Published Thursday, July 24, 2008
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Stumble It!JUNEAU -- The "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case isn't quite over.
Juneau attorney Doug Mertz told the Juneau Empire that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear arguments in the case in September.
Mertz represents Joseph Frederick, the former Juneau-Douglas High School student who displayed the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner during an Olympic torch relay.
The school suspended Frederick for the banner display, sparking a free speech debate.
The U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision last year that favored the school district and upheld its decision to reprimand Frederick.
Mertz says the Supreme Court ruling had not addressed whether Alaska's free speech provisions protected Frederick's actions and whether the banner constituted a legitimate political or social protest rather than a pro-drug declaration.
Superintendent Peggy Cowan says the school district is planning its arguments.
Community Discussion
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The News Miner just printed the EXACT phrase, twice, on a publication viewed by ALOT more people that read that banner.
So if it's ok for the News Miner to do it, why is it not for a student trying to be different and maybe add a little something to our bland and dull society?
Lol, he probably thanked them for suspending him- he could sit back and get high all day instead of having to go too school.
BONG HITS FOR JESUS!!!
So, uh, what would Jesus do? Thai bud? Panama Red? Matanuska? Maui Wowie? Ditch weed?
This is an important question.
BONG Hits for Jesus!!!!
'Bong hits for the Supreme Court' is more like it. They are WAY too uptight....
yes, bong hits for everybody!
Lagalize a drug that grows naturally and needs no added toxins or chemicals (like REAL dangerous drugs -prescribed- to "drug free" housewives and everyday folks throughout the nation, like Vicodin for example).
as long as dangerous drugs like alcohol are perfectly legal I will always push for Marijuana legalization, it is only illegal because of some stupid politicians PERSONAL agendas in an age when signs forbade people of color to mingle with "decent" people and it was ok to smoke cigarettes in hospitals, talk about hanging on to the past.
Lets get with the times and forget about the past, marijuana is NOT a dangerous drug, there is absolutely NO evidence proving it is any more dangerous than smoking cigarettes and it is certainly very much LESS dangerous than simply driving your car down to the store for a loaf of bread.
MTF
Curmudgeon, he'd just turn grass into grass.
Wow. All those comments and not one on point. The point was whether the school district had the right to suspend the kid for his actions. It was decided in the Supreme Court and I still couldn't care less. The fact that educational money was spent on this case is enough to make me think that the school district officials in Juneau are the ones taking bong hits. It also makes me wonder where the kid is getting his money. The district should let it go.
good point, but being "on point" is "relative" on blogs. It is a waste of time for the school district, not to mention the whole judicial system (OUR tax money)- they could have just had him put the banner away.
If you didn't notice the author is the associated press...
Hmm... if he was there as part of a school function, there is a zero tolerance policy regarding drugs/advertising. I have to wonder which opportunistic pit bull lawyer convinced him AFTER he was in trouble that it was a 'violation' of his free speech rights. I seriously doubt that it was a premeditated act of social rebellion.
I remember in my high school days what I thought about adults who overreacted to things like this. The lesson I learned was that adults were arbitrarily narrow-minded, petty, misguided, and uptight. So I tended to discount other things they said and did, which in retrospect they were correct about. In other words: Make a big fat deal about something so trivial, and lose respect,power, or authority in the eyes of those you are trying to teach.
I thought that it was a school sanctioned event, but not an official school event (ie the school didn't plan it and they weren't there representing the school)
The kid shouldn't have been suspended. He wasn't on school property, he wasn't representing the school and it wasn't an official school event.
Schools are getting way too much control in students lives. Students are getting suspended for things they say online outside of school, when using their home computer. It's absurd, especially when it's happening to public school kids. Public schools should not have the rights to control students outside of the school day and official school functions/events (ie sports games, dances etc).
MarieBarr, I seem to agree with you a lot.
I read the decisions, but I don't remember all the details. Think I downloaded them, but I have to look...
Not only is the situation what you said, but the kid didn't even go to school that morning.
I don't think the Olympics are a school sponsored event.
If I remember the details this kid had a history with the school district. It seems like his sign at the olympic torch relay was just one more salvo in his urinating contest with school officials.
BenEFits says: "Wow. All those comments and not one on point. "
Dude, like, is there a point? Whoa, that's a deep question. Man, these chips taste good. What were we talking about?
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