You will accurately infer that this case strikes me as much ado about mighty little. Young Frederick, suffering from an overblown view of his own importance, forgot his manners. Ms. Morse, needlessly throwing her weight around, forgot the rule that instructs grown-ups not to take themselves too damn seriously. The three judges of the 9th Circuit should have affirmed Judge Sedwick and then patted Frederick on his back for being a red-blooded American boy.

The Supreme Court may take this case for two reasons: (1) The school board's chief appellate counsel is Kenneth W. Starr, a major league player who served not long ago as a federal circuit judge and later as U.S. solicitor general. It's a reasonable assumption that Starr would not have taken the case unless he thought it had real merit. And then (2), this court is not notably sympathetic to the rights of smart-aleck kids. We'll see.

Starr may exaggerate when he says in his petition that Judge Kleinfeld's opinion in the 9th Circuit has "triggered deep concern among school boards nationwide and profoundly upset settled understandings of First Amendment principles," but he argues persuasively that the lower court erred especially in holding that Principal Morse is not entitled to qualified immunity for her role in the dreadful imbroglio. She may have outrun her writ, but not by much. She meant well.

I hope the high court takes the Juneau case and affirms 9-0. Seventy years ago, I too was a youthful rebel, a precocious baby Hearst, another Lincoln Steffens just waiting to emerge. I remember when I was summoned to the principal's office and put unpleasantly on terms: I could suspend publication of the extracurricular Weekly Keyhole and destroy all existing copies, or I could give up my editorship of the school's official student paper.

These were hard terms. My mother made me take them. I shoulda had help from the ACLU.