I think I mentioned somewhere on this blog how angry last month with some of the SCOTUS Justices questions during deliberations regarding the strip search of a 13 year-old Arizona girl at her junion high school. But today, the Supreme Court ruled that the strip search of a 13-year-old schoolgirl violated the constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
The Court ruled 8-1 that Arizona school officials violated student Savana Redding's Fourth Amendment rights when they searched her down to her bra and underpants-even asking her to lift the waistband and shake out her underwear. Officials were looking for pain relievers, which they didn't find.
Justice David Souter, the outgoing Justice who Sotomayor may replace in September, wrote the judgment and determined that "The content of the suspicion failed to match the degree of intrusion."
And guess who the lone hold out was on the court? Clarence Thomas. Gah!
Justice Clarence Thomas was the only member of the court to decide that the search of Redding was reasonable. And he seemed to be under the impression this young girl really did have "countraband" ibuprofin in her panties. The fact that she didn't have any pills and was the victim of a prank didn't quite seem to register with him.
However, only three justices agreed that school officials could be subject to lawsuits for this invasive search.
As today is the day Michael Jackson passed, I will end this post with a tribute to MJ, a video of one of my favorite Jackson song. When I was nine, my grandmother sent me Michael Jackson's "Thriller" cassette tape for Christmas, which my mother promptly took away from me and destroyed. Years later, I tore up the dance floor at my sister wedding with this song and my mother danced right alongside me. Some times, people really do remember to think twice!
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