SCOTUS Is Clothes-Minded When It Comes To Student Strip Search
SCOTUS ruled today that strip searching middle school students is not cool.
When Arizona school officials suspected an eighth-grade girl of harboring ibuprofen, they made her strip down to her bra and underwear, and then a nurse watched as she shook her bra and shook her underwear to prove there were no pills in her… on her person.
This sounds totally crazy on the Arizona officials’ part, but this girl was a suspicious character. She had been storing “several knives, lighters, a permanent marker, and a cigarette” in her day planner, according to the SCOTUS opinion [PDF]. That combined with Advil sounds like a rampage waiting to happen!
Lets take a look a those who concur, and those who dissent after the jump.
Justice John Paul Stevens points out in a concurring opinion that “[i]t does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude that a nude search of a 13-year-old child is an invasion of constitutional rights of some magnitude.” From the New York Times:
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.
In May, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg expressed concern about her fellow justices’ lack of sympathy when it came to the 13-year-old’s humiliation. From USA Today:
During oral arguments, some other justices minimized the girl’s lasting humiliation, but Ginsburg stood out in her concern for the teenager.“They have never been a 13-year-old girl,” she told USA TODAY later when asked about her colleagues’ comments during the arguments. “It’s a very sensitive age for a girl. I didn’t think that my colleagues, some of them, quite understood.”
Seven of the male justices were sympathetic with the girl, but one wasn’t. Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone dissenter, and is getting some criticism for his desire to grant access to the panties of 13-year-old girls.
Ginsburg: Court needs another woman [USA Today]
Settle Down, Clarence [True/Slant]
Supreme Court Says Child’s Rights Violated by Strip Search [New York Times]
Supreme Court Decision [PDF]
(43) 
Comments
FURST!
Strip seconds.
C.T. doesn't get enough credit for beeing a intellectual heavyweight
i bet the picture on top is kash
Kash, if you were strip searched, would they find your asslobster?
Yet another example of our disgraceful qualified immunity doctrine.
13 is a pretty awkward age for boys too. again with the identity politics crap?
Hopefully Justice Ginsburg will be apologizing to her male colleagues (sans Thomas) who, apparently, do know what it is like to be a 13 year old girl.
It's almost enough to believe that men can serve in the judiciary.
Hopefully Justice Ginsburg will be apologizing to her male colleagues (sans Thomas) who, apparently, do know what it is like to be a 13 year old girl.
It's almost enough to make one believe that men can serve in the judiciary.
wasn't C.T.'s confirmation sidetracked by allegations of... wait for it... being a perv?
I too, would jump at the chance to extol the virtues of my beloved fetish while leveraging my ideology as support.
Given that the girl in question was 13, isn't the accompanying pic in fairly poor taste?
I like Thomas. And Scalia. They made law school fun.
Hopefully Justice Ginsburg will be apologizing to her male colleagues (sans Thomas) who, apparently, do know what it is like to be a 13 year old girl.
It's almost enough to believe that men can serve in the judiciary.
Wow, it only took twelve hours to post about the lead legal story of the day. Good job. I guess MysTTTal was too busy googling for pics of Texas lawyers in fur.
Fairly HOT taste, 11!
Isn't it funny how Kash links to HER OTHER WEBSITE (True/Slant) for Thomas criticism? Is anyone gonna call her on trying to direct traffic to her buddy's blog? Seems a bit intellectually disingenuous...
what is an asslobster? I really want to know.
11=lots of fun to hang out with
11 - that was in 2003. she is now a consenting adult.
Isn't it funny how Kash links to HER OTHER WEBSITE (True/Slant) for Thomas criticism? Is anyone gonna call her on trying to direct traffic to her buddy's blog? Seems a bit intellectually disingenuous...
Comment removed by moderator.
Clothes-minded
Tee-hee
You're soooo punny.
when the legs look that good, we're all the same age
Comment removed by moderator.
19 - Adult, yes. Consenting? To you? Doubtful. BTW, as you may recall, it's not consenting if you drug her. Just FYI.
Calling FratStud . . .
Where are all the totally filthy comments?!
25 - gtfo. this isn't feministing.
Fuck trees! I climb buoys, mothafuckaaaa!!!!
I'll bet Justice Ginsburg doesn't know what it's like to be a 13-year-old Latina.
--Sonia
11- obviously doesn't spend much time on ATL
Messed up photo to choose for a story about a young girl getting strip searched in school. Way to sexualize the young, atl.
3 - this is why.
former thacher partners keep calling me in the middle of the night and saying...things. Angry, sexual things.
28 -
When I read that, I saw femiFISTING. Then I thought - damn, what an appropriate yet totally inappropriate mis-reading for a story about strip searching.
THe chick's thumbnail is offensive. Please moderate.
36 has the gheys.
I hope MJ jumps out of his hospital bed and starts moonwalking and is like...
You've been Hit By... You've been struck by...
A SMOOTH CRIMINAL!!!
I wonder what Kash is like.
Note to school children: if you are suspected of having drugs, crack it!
Two weeks after the strip search she was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez.
Kash, I want to make sweet love to you.
this ruling came too late...imagine how much more fun jr. high would have been if you could sneak drugs onto campus in your bra and panties.