''Bethel School District v. Fraser'', 478 U.S. 675 (1986), was a landmark decision by the

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

involving free speech in public schools. High school student Matthew Fraser was suspended from school in the Bethel School District in

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

for making a speech including

sexual innuendo An innuendo is a hint, insinuation or intimation about a person or thing, especially of a denigrating or derogatory nature. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion ...

at a

school assembly A school assembly is a gathering of all or part of a school for purposes, such as special programs or communicating information basis. In some schools, students gather to perform a common song or prayer, and to receive common announcements. A r ...

. The Supreme Court held that his suspension did not violate his

First Amendment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

right to freedom of speech.

Background

On April 26, 1983, Matthew Fraser, a Pierce County, Washington high school senior, gave a speech nominating classmate Jeff Kuhlman for

Associated Student Body A student council (also known as a student union, associated student body or student parliament) is an administrative organization of students in different educational institutes ranging from elementary schools to universities and research or ...

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

. The speech was filled with sexual innuendos, but not obscenity, prompting disciplinary action from the administration. The speech was as follows: After appealing through the grievance procedures of his school, he was still found to be in violation of several school policies against disruptive behavior and the use of vulgar and offensive speech. These grounds later evolved to include obscenity at trial, but obscenity, according to Fraser, was not listed as grounds for his punishment in his initial hearing with school vice-principal Christy Blair. As a result, Fraser was suspended from school for three days, though he returned after two, and was prohibited from speaking at his graduation ceremony. Fraser nonetheless was selected by a write-in vote which placed him second overall among the top three finishers, although Bethel High School administrators refused to accept the write-in vote as a valid result, and continued to deny Fraser the opportunity to speak at graduation. With approval from his parents and help from

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

cooperating attorney Jeff Haley, Matt Fraser filed a lawsuit against the school authorities claiming a violation of his First Amendment right to

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

, and United States District Court judge Jack Tanner ruled in his favor. The school district then appealed to the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled in Fraser's favor with a broadly worded opinion. The school district asked the United States Supreme Court to consider the case, and it agreed to do so.

Opinion of the Court

The US Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeals in a 7–2 vote to reinstate the suspension, saying that the school district's policy did not violate the First Amendment.Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser , The Oyez Project at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law
/ref> Chief Justice

Warren Burger Warren Earl Burger (September 17, 1907 – June 25, 1995) was an American attorney and jurist who served as the 15th chief justice of the United States from 1969 to 1986. Born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, Burger graduated from the St. Paul Colleg ...

delivered the Court's opinion, in what ended up along with the Gramm–Rudman decision (''

Bowsher v. Synar ''Bowsher v. Synar'', 478 U.S. 714 (1986), was a United States Supreme Court case that struck down the Gramm–Rudman–Hollings Act as an unconstitutional usurpation of executive power by Congress because the law empowered Congress to terminate ...

'') to be the final case of the

Burger Court The Burger Court was the period in the history of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1969 to 1986, when Warren Burger served as Chief Justice of the United States. Burger succeeded Earl Warren as Chief Justice after the latter's retir ...

era.

Justices A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

William J. Brennan William Joseph "Bill" Brennan Jr. (April 25, 1906 – July 24, 1997) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1956 to 1990. He was the seventh-longest serving justice ...

and Harry Blackmun delivered concurring opinions, while

Thurgood Marshall Thurgood Marshall (July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American civil rights lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1967 until 1991. He was the Supreme Court's first African-A ...

and John Paul Stevens dissented. Though the Court distinguished its 1969 decision '' Tinker v. Des Moines'', which upheld the right of students to express themselves where their words (or in that case, the wearing of a protest armband) are nondisruptive and could not be seen as connected with the school, ''Fraser'' limits the scope of that ruling, by prohibiting certain styles of expression that are sexually vulgar.

References

External links

* *
Text of Fraser's speech
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bethel School District v. Fraser United States Supreme Court cases United States Free Speech Clause case law 1986 in United States case law Student rights case law in the United States United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court 1986 in education Education in Pierce County, Washington History of Pierce County, Washington United States obscenity case law Obscenity controversies

Background

Opinion of the Court

See also

References

Further reading

External links