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In January 2002, for the first time, the Olympic Torch Relay visited Alaska on its way to the Winter Games. When the relay runner and accompanying camera cars passed Juneau-Douglas High School, senior Joseph Frederick and several friends unfurled a fourteen-foot banner reading "BONG HiTS 4 JESUS."
An in-depth look at student rights within a public high school, this book chronicles the events that followed: Frederick's suspension, the subsequent suit against the school district, and, ultimately, the escalation of a local conflict into a federal case. Brought to life through interviews with the principal figures in the case, Bong Hits 4 Jesus is a gripping tale of the boundaries of free speech in an American high school.
"Dangerous, disruptive, unprotected speech or a sophomoric grab for TV face time? Foster’s fascinating and comprehensive book about Morse v. Frederick walks readers through every stage of a case that resulted in the US Supreme Court establishing a ‘messy precedent’ that may deeply affect First Amendment speech rights for years to come. Sensitive in its portrayal of both students’ rights and school authority, Bong Hits 4 Jesus considers whether this recalibration of student speech rights is a major retreat.”
— Jill Norgren, City University of New York
— John Brigham
James C. Foster is a professor at Oregon State University. He has taught and written about aspects of judicial politics for over thirty years.
Introduction
Prologue: A Tale of Three Wars and Zero Tolerance
1. Harmonic Convergence in Juneau: [In]famous for Fifteen Minutes
2. The Tentative Tinker Rule
3. From Black Armbands to Colliding Tubas
4. A New Century, a Different Court
5. The Ninth Circuit Weighs In
6. Not-So-Brief Battles, Not Such Odd Bedfellows
7. "Up in Smoke at the High Court"
8. Five Takes on a Single Event
9. Lost Opportunities and Failure of Imagination
Endnotes
Works Cited
List of Interviews
Tables of Cases
Index