The US Supreme Court ruled Monday in favor of a school that suspended a student for brandishing a banner proclaiming "Bong Hits 4 Jesus," in one of the more bizarre recent free-speech cases.
The high-school pupil, Joseph Frederick, had argued that the school principal had infringed his constitutional right to free speech by suspending him in January 2002 over his apparently pro-cannabis message.
But in a five-three decision, the Supreme Court found that schools "may take steps to safeguard those entrusted to their care from speech that can reasonably be regarded as encouraging illegal drug use."
"We conclude that the school officials in this case did not violate the First Amendment by confiscating the pro-drug banner and suspending the student responsible for it," the ruling written by chief justice John Roberts said.
Frederick was 18 when he displayed his huge banner just outside the school grounds at Juneau, Alaska in front of television cameras as the Olympic flame passed in front of a crowd.
Principal Deborah Morse was not amused by Frederick's linkage between Jesus and a bong, a pipe used to smoke marijuana. She took away the banner and suspended Frederick from school for 10 days.
Frederick took his case to court, arguing that his free-speech rights, protected under the First Amendment, had been violated, and demanding damages from Morse.
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.
For his part, Frederick, now 23, said he had unfurled the banner as a "free-speech experiment."
The banner is "absurdly funny. It doesn't make any sense at all," he said in a telephone news conference from China, where he studies and teaches, just before the Supreme Court took up the case in March.
