Please read the case attached and make a case brief about it, follow the direction and example below. To brief a case, you must read the case thoroughly, taking in the main points, then write up a short synopsis of the case. Your brief must contain information from the case organized in the following manner: (1) case name and year; (2) area of law; (3) facts; (4) legal issue; (5) decision; and (6) three reasons. By organizing case information according to the these categories, students can create a short guide to the case that contains all of the relevant information to aid in understanding the case so that you, as a manager, would be able to explain the case to one of your employees. : Morse v. Frederick Supreme Court of the United States, 2007. : U.S. Constitution—First Amendment—Freedom of Speech Morse, the principal of a high school in Alaska, allowed the students to stand outside the school to watch as the Olympic torch was carried past the high school in 2002. At this school-sanctioned and school-supervised event, several students held up a banner containing the phrase, “BONG HITS 4 JESUS.” Morse, thinking the banner advocated illegal drug use, following school policy against messages that are pro-drug use, told the students to take the banner down. Frederick, one of the students with the banner, refused, and was subsequently suspended. The superintendent and the school board both supported the principal’s actions. The student sued the school, arguing that the school violated the student’s First Amendment right to free speech. The school argued that it was within their power to prevent the promotion of drug use and there was no violation of the First Amendment. The District Court ruled in favor of the school, saying no First Amendment violation occurred. The student appealed and the Ninth Circuit reversed the decision. The Ninth Circuit agreed that the activity was school-authorized and that the message was pro-marijuana use. However
, the Ninth Circuit argued that the school did not demonstrate that the student’s speech threatened a substantial disruption, and thus his First Amendment right was violated. The school then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. Did the school official’s actions requiring the student to take down the banner and then suspending the student for his refusal violate the student’s First Amendment right to free speech? No, the student’s First Amendment right to free speech was not violated. The Ninth Circuit’s opinion was reversed and remanded in favor of the school official. The Supreme Court reasoned that the student’s speech is properly understood as school speech, as it was at a school-sanctioned event, during school hours, on and immediately off school property. As a school speech case, the school is allowed to limit speech in ways they could not were it not a school event, which limits the student’s speech rights preventing his unfurling of a banner supporting drug use in blatant violation of school policy. The pro-drug message was clear and no reasonable interpretation exists for what the banner meant other than to support illegal drug use. The pro-drug message, which was against school policy, was not required by , 393 U.S. 503, to involve a substantial disruption, as was argued in , 478 U.S. 675. Furthermore, in accordance with the importance of preventing school aged children from engaging in illegal substance use, the school was well within its power to suspend the student for promoting drug use via his banner. The right to free speech is not lost when children enter school, but the nature of permissible speech, per the ruling in , changes. I want to help you avoid common mistakes and get FULL credit on your brief. Many students lose points unnecessarily on the case brief by not following the directions. Consequently, it ends up lowering their grade in the class. Make sure that your Case Brief is formatted like the example case brief shown above. :