U.S. Supreme Court rules strip searching minors unconstitutional

The U.S. Supreme Court has declared strip search of minors violates Fourth Amendment privacy rights. However, exception can be given is extreme cases, including drug trafficking.

In a 8 to 1 ruling on Thursday, the apex court ruled in favor of a 13-year-old Arizona girl who was stripped searched on suspicions of carrying prescription-strength drugs. Safford, Ariz.-based Savana Redding was in the eighth grade in 2003 when she was subjected to a complete body search. School authorities claimed they suspected she was carrying prescription drugs. No pills were found when two school officials examined her underwear. Justice David H. Souter said:

In sum, what was missing from the suspected facts that pointed to Savana was any indication of danger to the students from the power of the drugs or their quantity, and any reason to suppose that Savana was carrying pills in her underwear,” the court said. “We think that the combination of these deficiencies was fatal to finding the search reasonable.

The case has been send back to lower courts to decide about the damages, if any. However, in a 7 to 2 ruling, the court said that the school officials in the case should not be held liable because of the ambiguities in the law.