Seth Gardner's List: Supreme Court

• "What may constitute reasonable suspicion for a search of a locker or even a pocket or pocketbook may fall well short of reasonableness for a nude search" and that, "as the intrusiveness of the search of a student intensifies, so too does the standard of Fourth Amendment reasonableness."
• The reliability and trustworthiness of the student tip was questionable because the principal took no steps to investigate, corroborate, or otherwise substantiate the charges.

• T.L.O. denied smoking there. She denied that she smoked at all. An assistant vice-principal demanded to see T.L.O.'s purse. Searching through it he found a pack of cigarettes. He also found rolling papers, a pipe, marijuana, a large wad of dollar bills, and two letters that indicated that T.L.O. was involved in marijuana dealing at the high school.
• The State Supreme Court overturned the decision, stating that T.L.O.'s 4th Amendment rights had been violated.
• But the opinion also stated that the rights of children and adolescents are not the same as those of adults and that school officials have a responsibility to maintain the discipline necessary for education. “The school setting,” White wrote, “…requires some modification of the level of suspicion of illicit activity needed to justify a search.” The rights of students must be balanced against the needs of the school setting.
• a “school official may properly conduct a search of a student's person if the official has a reasonable suspicion that a crime has been…committed, or reasonable cause to believe that the search is necessary to maintain school discipline….”

  • Does this include a strip search. To me this seems like a whole nother level of searching. Purse v Full Strip?
• “In New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)… we reaffirmed that the constitutional rights of students in public school are not automatically coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings.”

3 more annotations...

• August 22, 2003
• including Redding, who was then thirteen years old and enter-  ing eighth grade,
• Specifically,  Jordan informed Beeman and Wilson that Redding had served  alcohol to her classmates at a party she hosted at her home  prior to the dance in August.²
• a group of students were planning to take  pills at lunch
• Ibuprofen 400 mg,
• Marissa did so, produc-  ing one blue pill, several white pills, and a razor blade. The  blue pill was later identified as "Naprosyn 200 mg," an over-  the-counter drug used to treat pain and inflammation.
• "I guess it slipped in when she gave me the  IBU 400s." When Wilson asked "who is she?," Marissa  responded, "Savana Redding."
• (2) lift up her shirt and pull  out her bra band, and
• (3) pull her bra out and to the side  and shake it, exposing her breasts,

  • Marissa's Breasts were not exposed, this is a huge difference.
• Defendants  moved for summary judgment, arguing that they did not vio-  late Redding's constitutional rights, and that even if they did,  they were entitled to qualified immunity because the law was  not "clearly established" at the time the search took place.
• the Supreme Court has admonished us that "the consti-  tutional rights of students in public school are not automati-  cally coextensive with the rights of adults in other settings"  and that "the rights of students must be applied in light of the  special characteristics of the school environment."

  • I think search and seizure should rank up there with "rights of adults in other setting". I know in the recent free speech "Bong's for Jesus" they did not uphold the student's free speech. I need to look up this case.
• reasonably related in scope to the circumstances  which justified the interference in the first place."

  • 400mg of Ibuprofen is reasonable?

10 more annotations...