PSCI 3322 Lecture Notes - Lecture 21: Morse V. Frederick, Gregory Lee Johnson, Flag Desecration
25 Jan 2017
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Document Summary
Facts: frederick held up a banner during a school-sponsored event that said bong hits 4 jesus. Morse took away the banner and suspended frederick for 10 days. She says she is citing school policy against the display of material that promotes the use of illegal drugs. Lower court claims that morse has qualified immunity from lawsuit. Circuit court says that she doesn t because any reasonable principal would know what she did was unlawful. Response: school can prohibit a student from displaying messages that promote illegal drug use. Students do have political speech right but not when it extends to pro-drug messages that undermines the school"s important mission to discourage drug use. Dissenting opinion: says principal should have had immunity from the lawsuit. Concurring opinion: thomas - free speech does not apply to students and wish to see tinker overturned. Alito - decision applied to pro-drug messages and not to broader political speech.
