In a ruling of interest to educators, parents and students across the country, the Supreme Court ruled, 8 to 1, on Thursday that the strip search of a 13-year-old Arizona girl by school officials who were looking for prescription-strength drugs violated her constitutional rights.Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter (again), and contends that majority's finding "second-guesses the measures that educators take to maintain discipline 'and ensure the health and safety of the students in their charge'." Except for the health and safety of the 13-year-olds getting strip-searched, I guess.
The officials in Safford, Ariz., would have been justified in 2003 had they limited their search to the backpack and outer clothing of Savana Redding, who was in the eighth grade at the time, the court ruled. But in searching her undergarments, they went too far and violated her Fourth Amendment privacy rights, the justices said.
See Scott and Amanda for more on the ruling.
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