On January 24, 2002, the Juneau [Alaska] School District sanctioned
an outdoor event across the street from the high school—watching the
Olympic torch as it passed by on its journey to Salt Lake City, where
the winter games were going to be held. Just as the torch and camera
crews passed by, student Joseph Frederick unfurled a 14-foot banner
that said “BONG HITS 4 Jesus.” Principal Deborah Morse confiscated
the banner and suspended Frederick for ten days. Although he appealed his suspension, the Juneau School District upheld the suspension, arguing that the sign promoted illegal drug use and the school had a policy against displaying messages that promoted drug use. Frederick sued. A district court decided in favor of the principal. On appeal the Ninth Circuit Court decided that Frederick’s constitutional right to free speech was abridged because the school had not shown the message was disruptive. The case reached the Supreme Court, which ruled 5:4 in Morse v. Frederick in 2007 that the school was within its rights to remove the banner and suspend Frederick. In the majority opinion, Justice Roberts argued that students’ right to free speech in schools does not extend to pro-drug messages, because an important objective of the school was to discourage drug use.

(A) Identify a similarity between Morse v. Frederick (2002) and Tinker v.
Des Moines Independent School District (1969).

(B) Based on the similarity identified in part A, explain why the facts
of the Morse v. Frederick case led to a different holding than the
holding in Tinker.

(C) Describe how the holding in Morse v. Frederick might affect (or
not affect) the effort of high school students to hold an assembly on
school grounds supporting the decriminalization of marijuana.