A high-powered Los Angeles law firm on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review whether Juneau Douglas School District had a right to punish a student who stood off school grounds during the passing of the Olympic torch holding a banner that read, "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."
The phrase is so giggle-worthy, so odd, so catchy, that the entire lengthy legal affair is often referred to simply as the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus case."
At its core: Juneau-Douglas High School principal Deborah Morse, the Juneau School Board and then-senior Joseph Frederick, who is now a teacher in China. Court records outline what happened that day, Jan. 24, 2002:
The torch passed the school. Some kids had skipped out to make fast food runs. Others cheered. Frederick and some buddies stood across the street and held up their 10-foot banner.
Morse crossed the street, grabbed the sign and ultimately suspended Frederick for 10 days. District officials agreed his banner violated school anti-drug policies.
Enter the Alaska Civil Liberties Union. That group said that Frederick was off campus and drug free and the school clearly smothered his rights to free speech.
The AkCLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of Frederick in U.S. District Court -- the state-level federal court -- against the school board. The suit asked for removal of the suspension from the young man's records, monetary damages and acknowledgement his rights were trampled.
But Chief Judge John W. Sedwick dismissed Frederick's lawsuit in 2003, concluding that school officials had wide discretion to regulate speech that encouraged drug use during a school-sponsored event.
End of story? No way.
Frederick's people appealed and earlier this spring, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed Sedwick's ruling and decided Morse indeed violated Frederick's rights.
Now Californians are involved.
Kirkland & Ellis LLP -- a 1,100-attorney law firm with offices around the country and clients around the world -- is representing the Juneau School Board and Morse.
Lead counsel on the case includes Kenneth Starr, author of the infamous Starr Report to Congress on the Monica Lewinsky sex scandal that led to the impeachment of President Clinton.
In this case, Starr's team argues the U.S. Supreme Court should review the Bong Hits 4 Jesus case because "the Ninth Circuit's decision, as a practical matter, renders long-standing school policies against pro-drug messages unenforceable," according to a press release the law office sent out Monday.
Courts have uniformly upheld school bans on messages promoting illegal substances, the press release says. This case gives the court a chance to reaffirm that so there's no confusion about it.
The L.A. lawyers also argue that public school officials should be able to do their job and enforce policies without fear of civil liability.
"This case raises an issue of vital importance to every school principal and administrator in the country," Starr said, in a statement from his office.
Juneau attorney Doug Mertz has represented Frederick since the beginning. He said his client no longer lives in town. After graduating from high school and studying at the University of Idaho, he said, Frederick and his father now teach English at the same school in China.
Mertz said this remains a very simple case. At its core is the fact that Frederick's right to free speech was violated.
"There isn't any doubt about it," he said.
He blames the initial loss in U.S. District Court in Alaska on "a very conservative judge who never actually analyzed this. ... Joseph was not on school grounds, and the ... school district admitted he wasn't disrupting the school's academic efforts at all," Mertz said.
"To us, right there, that answers the question. He has a First Amendment right to engage in free speech."
Frederick's case is strong, said Mertz, and he is confident the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' decision will stand, even if the Supreme Court does decide to review it. He doubts they will.
Frederick's case is peculiar for sure, Mertz said. But it doesn't have any of the judicial conflicts or issues of national importance that tend to elevate litigation to the country's highest courtroom, he said.
As for that now-famous banner?
"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" is kept safe in Mertz' office. Morse, the principal, handed it over some time ago. So far, no courts have asked to see it, Mertz said. But he'll hold on to it, just in case.
