Bethel School District v. Fraser

Bethel School District v. Fraser
Supreme Court of the United States
Argued March 3, 1986
Decided July 7, 1986
Full case nameBethel School District No. 403 v. Matthew N. Fraser, a Minor, et al.
Citations478 U.S. 675 (more)
106 S. Ct. 3159; 92 L. Ed. 2d 549; 1986 U.S. LEXIS 139; 54 U.S.L.W. 5054
ArgumentOral argument
Case history
PriorJudgment for plaintiff; affirmed, 755 F.2d 1356 (9th Cir. 1985); cert. granted, 474 U.S. 814 (1985).
Holding
The First Amendment, as applied through the Fourteenth, permits a public school to punish a student for giving a lewd and indecent, even if not obscene, speech at a school assembly. Ninth Circuit reversed and remanded.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Warren E. Burger
Associate Justices
William J. Brennan Jr. · Byron White
Thurgood Marshall · Harry Blackmun
Lewis F. Powell Jr. · William Rehnquist
John P. Stevens · Sandra Day O'Connor
Case opinions
MajorityBurger, joined by White, Powell, Rehnquist, O'Connor
ConcurrenceBrennan (in judgment)
ConcurrenceBlackmun (in result)
DissentMarshall
DissentStevens
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. I, XIV; 42 U.S.C. § 1983
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Bethel School District v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986), is a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court upheld the suspension of a high school student who delivered a sexually suggestive speech at a school assembly. The case involved free speech in public schools.

On April 26, 1983, student Matthew Fraser was suspended from Bethel High School in Pierce County, Washington after he gave a speech including sexual innuendo while nominating a classmate for a student council position at a school assembly. Believing his speech to be inappropriate and vulgar, the school's administration suspended Fraser for three days and barred him from speaking at graduation. After unsuccessfully appealing his punishment through the school's grievance procedures, Fraser filed a lawsuit against the school board, claiming the suspension violated his right to free speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The United States District Court and Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals both sided with Fraser. On appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, a 7–2 majority held that his suspension did not violate the First Amendment. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice Warren Burger found that schools have the right to suppress student speech that is considered lewd or indecent, even if not obscene, in the interest of preserving a safe educational environment.

Background

Prior case law

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution protects the freedom of speech with several narrow exceptions that the Supreme Court has defined over time.[1] In Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District (1969), the Court held that speech made by students in public schools is protected by the First Amendment unless the speech causes a "substantial disruption" to the learning environment.[2]

Facts of the case

Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington, where the incident took place

On April 26, 1983, an assembly was held at Bethel High School in Spanaway, Washington for student council elections to take place.[3] Students were required to either attend the assembly or report to study hall.[A] At the assembly, Matthew Fraser, a 17-year-old senior, gave a speech nominating a classmate for student council vice president.[5] To an audience of about 600 students and teachers, Fraser delivered the following speech:[6]

I know a man who is firm – he's firm in his pants, he's firm in his shirt, his character is firm – but most . . . of all, his belief in you, the students of Bethel, is firm. Jeff Kuhlman is a man who takes his point and pounds it in. If necessary, he'll take an issue and nail it to the wall. He doesn't attack things in spurts – he drives hard, pushing and pushing until finally – he succeeds. Jeff is a man who will go to the very end – even the climax, for each and every one of you. So vote for Jeff for A. S. B. vice-president – he'll never come between you and the best our high school can be.

It took Fraser about one minute to deliver the speech.[7] As he delivered it, several students in the audience "hooted and yelled" while others appeared "bewildered and embarrassed".[8] Several students also made gestures that simulated sexual acts alluded to in the speech.[9] Fraser's candidate, Jeff Kuhlman, ultimately won the election with 90 percent of the vote.[10]

Prior to the assembly, two of Fraser's teachers warned him that the speech was inappropriate and that he "probably should not deliver it" because doing so could have "severe consequences",[11] though they did not suggest that delivering it would violate school rules.[12] The morning after the assembly, Fraser was called to the office,[B] where an assistant principal informed him that his speech violated a school rule against "disruptive conduct".[14] The rule, which appeared to be partly inspired by Tinker, prohibited "conduct which materially and substantially interferes with the educational process", including "obscene, profane language or gestures".[15] Fraser admitted to using sexual innuendo in his speech on purpose and defended it as necessary to reach his core audience.[16] Fraser was suspended for three days and his name was removed from the list of eligible graduation speakers.[17]

Fraser appealed the decision through the school district's grievance procedures but was still found to be in violation of the "disruptive conduct" rule, though he was allowed to return to school after serving only two days of his three-day suspension.[18][C] Fraser, with his father acting as guardian ad litem, filed a lawsuit against the school district, claiming that his First Amendment rights had been violated.[20]

Lower court proceedings

United States District Court judge Jack Edward Tanner ruled in Fraser's favor on May 31, 1983.[21]

The school district then appealed to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which again ruled in Fraser's favor.[22] The school district filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of the United States on April 19, 1985.[23] The Supreme Court granted certiorari on October 8, 1985.[24]

Opinion of the Court

The 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.[25] Chief Justice Warren Burger delivered the Court's opinion, in what ended up along with the Gramm–Rudman decision (Bowsher v. Synar) to be the final case of the Burger Court era. Justice William J. Brennan delivered a concurring opinion, while Justice Harry Blackmun concurred in the majority without authoring an opinion. Thurgood Marshall and John Paul Stevens dissented.[25]

Though the Court distinguished its 1969 decision Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, which upheld the right of students to express themselves where their words (or in that case, the wearing of a protest armband) are non-disruptive 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.

Matthew Fraser, then a student at the University of California, Berkeley, said of the ruling: "I'm not really surprised. The court has become mindlessly conservative lately. The rationale used in this case is nothing less than idiotic."[26]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Legal scholar John C. Polifka wrote: "In effect, student attendance was compelled."[4]
  2. ↑ Fraser was also called to the principal's office immediately after giving the speech, though no disciplinary action was taken at the time.[13]
  3. ↑ Despite his ban from speaking at graduation, Fraser was elected as a class speaker following a successful write-in campaign from students. The school board initially refused to accept the results but a district court ruling overturned their decision, granting Fraser an injunction allowing him to speak. Fraser ultimately spoke at graduation without incident.[19]

References

References
  1. ↑ Eugene Volokh, The First Amendment and Related Statutes: Problems, Cases, and Policy Arguments, 1-2 (3rd 2008).
  2. ↑ David Margolick, Students and Privacy, N.Y. Times, January 21, 1985.
  3. ↑ Bethel School District v. Fraser, 478 U.S. at 677 (hereinafter cited as Fraser).
  4. ↑ John C. Polifka, Bethel School District v. Fraser: A Legitimate Time, Place, and Manner Restriction on Speech in the Public Schools, 32 S.D. L. Rev. 156, 157 (1987).
  5. ↑ Ruth Marcus, Student Suspended After Speech, Wash. Post, March 2, 1986.
  6. ↑ Fraser, 478 U.S. at 687 (Brennan, J., concurring).
  7. ↑ Justin Driver, The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind 92 (2018).
  8. ↑ Fraser, 478 U.S. at 678.
  9. ↑ Polifka, at 157.
  10. ↑ Driver, at 93.
  11. ↑ Fraser, 478 U.S. at 678.
  12. ↑ Fraser, 478 U.S. at 695 (Stevens, J., dissenting); Polifka, at 157.
  13. ↑ Marcus, para. 8.
  14. ↑ David L. Hudson & John E. Ferguson, The Courts' Inconsistent Treatment of Bethel v. Fraser and the Curtailment of Student Rights, 36 J. Marshall L. Rev. 181, 188 (2002).
  15. ↑ Driver, at 92.
  16. ↑ Driver, at 92-93; Marcus, para. 7.
  17. ↑ Driver, at 92; Polifka, at 157.
  18. ↑ Fraser, 478 U.S. at 679.
  19. ↑ Fred M. Hechinger, About Education; Political Shift on 'Vulgar' Speech, N.Y. Times, July 15, 1986; Br. of Respondents 5.
  20. ↑ Fraser, 478 U.S. at 679.
  21. ↑ Br. of Petitioners 5.
  22. ↑ Fraser v. Bethel School Dist. No. 403, 755 F.2d 1356 (9th Cir. 1985) (hereinafter cited as Fraser II).
  23. ↑ Pet. for Writ of Certiorari 1.
  24. ↑ Stuart Taylor, Jr., High Court Agrees to Review Affirmative Action Cases As It Begins Term, N.Y. Times, October 8, 1985.
  25. 1 2 "Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser". Oyez Project. Chicago-Kent College of Law. Retrieved May 20, 2023.
  26. ↑ Jack Broom, Spanaway School Wins Speech Case, Seattle Times, July 7, 1986, at 1.
Sources

Further reading

  • Finkelman, P., & Urofsky, M. I. (2003). Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser. In Landmark decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Washington: CQ Press. Retrieved January 22, 2009, from CQ Press Electronic Library, CQ Supreme Court Collection, http://library.cqpress.com/scc/lndmrk03-113-6442-349542. Document ID: lndmrk03-113-6442-349542.
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