Pubdate: Fri, 26 Jun 2009
Source: New York Times (NY)
Page: A24
Copyright: 2009 The New York Times Company
Contact:  http://www.nytimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298
Referenced: The ruling http://drugsense.org/url/ewgAsKhd
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Savana+Redding
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/strip+searches

AN UNREASONABLE SEARCH

In an important victory for students' rights, the Supreme Court 
ruled, 8-to-1, Thursday that school officials acted 
unconstitutionally when they strip searched a 13-year-old girl. The 
majority was too willing to find that in this particular case the 
officials involved were immune from liability. But the decision still 
sends an important message to schools about the need to respect their 
students' privacy when they conduct investigations.

Savana Redding, an Arizona middle-school student, was strip searched 
by school officials looking for prescription-strength ibuprofen. The 
school acted on a sketchy accusation from a fellow student, who said 
Ms. Redding had possessed ibuprofen pills in the past. The search -- 
which Ms. Redding understandably regarded as humiliating -- did not 
turn up any pills.

Ms. Redding's mother sued, charging that the strip search violated 
the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches. In 
schools, the protection is reduced, but officials still must show 
that a search was not overly intrusive in light of its purpose and 
the age of the student.

Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, said the school was 
justified in searching Ms. Redding's backpack and outer clothing. But 
a strip search is of another order of magnitude, he noted, especially 
when done on someone whose "adolescent vulnerability" magnifies the 
intrusiveness.

In this case, the court said, the school's rationale did not justify 
the search. The drugs -- a few ibuprofen pills -- posed only a 
limited threat. And there was no legitimate reason to believe that 
Ms. Redding was hiding anything in her underwear.

The decision will no doubt, rightly, discourage schools from 
conducting strip searches of their students in all but the most 
extreme circumstances.

The court should have gone on to hold the school officials involved 
liable for damages. Regrettably, it ruled that the state of the law 
was so uncertain before this ruling that the officials should be 
given immunity for their actions. It sent the question of whether the 
school district is liable back to a lower court to resolve.

Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for himself and Justice Ruth Bader 
Ginsburg, noted that the standards for student searches have been 
clear since a 1985 Supreme Court ruling laid them out. And as he 
observed, it does not take a constitutional scholar to know that a 
strip search of a 13-year-old child is a significant invasion of 
constitutional rights. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake