Supreme Court rules strip search of student violation of her 4th amendment rights

[Noah Fowle]

The Supreme Court rule 8-1 today that an the strip search of an Arizona girl by school officials violated her ci....

Thursday’s ruling sends the case back to the lower courts to assess what damages, if any, should be paid by the school district. But, by a vote of 7 to 2, the Supreme Court held that the individual officials in the case should not be held liable, because “clearly established law” at the time of the search did not show that it violated the Fourth Amendment.

The portion of the ruling exempting the officials from liability is likely to be greeted with relief by thousands of principals, teachers and other school officials who work to impart knowledge and maintain discipline in a fast-changing world, where children are growing up (or trying to) earlier than ever.

Well, readers what do you think? Ever been in a situation where you thought school officials acted too heavy handed?

[Jennifer Richardson]

I obviously didn't read Noah's post clearly; I guess I focused in on the part where it says that the school officials who conducted the search aren't liable. In my opinion, they certainly showed poor judgement, and if their judgement was poor in one situation, it's likely to be poor again.

[Jennifer Richardson]

As a high school teacher, I was extremely disappointed with the Supreme Court's decision. If this case had been a matter of the girl posing an imminent danger, I would feel differently, but she could easily have been asked to wait in the principal's office until her parents arrived, and then the search could have been conducted, preferably by a police officer, not a school administrator. The idea that she was searched by someone she will have to see everyday at school, without a guardian present, is mind boggling to me. I think that one of the biggest complaints most high school students have is that they are not treated with respect, and this case is a clear example of that.

[Alice Perrault]

School officials make mountains out of sand piles. When I was in high school, my school went through a gay rights movement. Why? Because some kid had a shirt on that said something about being gay. He was sent home I believe- well everyone got upset about it and started acting out. They all put signs on their backs / chests stating their orientation. The teachers and staff were told to not talk about it at all. Kids were told to take the signs off. What happens the next day? about 90 percent of the student body show up with t-shirts stating their orientation and things like "i support gays" or "lesbians are the best" or "I'm straight" or "I'm against gays" etc. If the school had just left things alone then there would not have been such a big issue. By telling people to stop and not talk it only made kids do it more. I mean hello- teenagers + high school + drama= rebellion. You would think they would have seen that one coming.