New Jersey v. T. L. O.: Difference between revisions
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In footnote 4 of the majority opinion, the Court noted that its holding applied only to school authorities acting on their own, not for any searches that were conducted in concert with or at the behest of law enforcement agencies. As that issue had not been raised by this case, the Court specifically noted that it was expressing no opinion on the subject. |
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- Amendment: 4th Amendment |
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- Legal Question: Do students in school have the same rights under the 4th Amendment as adults? Does “probable cause” have to be established for the search of a student in school, or is “reasonable cause” enough? |
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- A teacher found T.L.O. and another girl smoking in a restroom |
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- Two girls were taken to the principal's office where T.L.O. denied smoking |
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- An assistant vice-principal demanded to see T.L.O.'s purse |
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- Searching through it he found a pack of cigarettes, rolling papers, a pipe, marijuana, a large wad of dollar bills, and two letters that indicated that T.L.O. was involved in marijuana dealing at the high school |
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==Concurrence== |
==Concurrence== |
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Revision as of 18:55, 9 December 2011
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (February 2009) |
| New Jersey v. T. L. O. (underage) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued March 28, 1984 Reargued October 2, 1984 Decided January 15, 1985 | |
| Full case name | New Jersey v. T. L. O. |
| Citations | 469 U.S. 325 (more) 105 S. Ct. 733; 83 L. Ed. 2d 720; 1985 U.S. LEXIS 41; 53 U.S.L.W. 4083 |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Defendant convicted sub. nom. State ex rel. T. L. O. 178 N.J.Super. 329, 428 A.2d 1327 (Middlesex County Ct., 1980); Affirmed 185 N.J.Super. 279, 448 A.2d 493 (App. Div., 1982); conviction reversed 94 N.J. 331, 463 A.2d 934 (1983) |
| Holding | |
| (1) Fourth Amendment's prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures applies to searches conducted by public school officials (Administrators) , and (2) search of student's purse was reasonable. | |
| Court membership | |
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| Case opinions | |
| Majority | White, joined by Burger, Powell, Rehnquist, O'Connor |
| Concurrence | Powell, joined by O'Connor |
| Concurrence | Blackmun |
| Concur/dissent | Brennan, joined by Marshall |
| Concur/dissent | Stevens, joined by Marshall, Brennan |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend IV | |
New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325 (1985) is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States addressing the constitutionality of a search of a public high school student for contraband after she was caught smoking. A subsequent search of her purse revealed drug paraphernalia, marijuana, and documentation of drug sales. She was charged as a juvenile for the drugs and paraphernalia found in the search. She fought the search, claiming it violated her Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches. The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 ruling, held that the search was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
Opinion of the Court
The Supreme Court of the United States, in a 6-3 decision issued by Justice White, between the individual's—even a child's—legitimate expectation of privacy and the school's interest in maintaining order and discipline, said that New Jersey won the case. According to school officials, they do require a "reasonable suspicion" to perform a search.
Therefore, her possession of any cigarettes was relevant to whether or not she was being truthful, and since she had been caught in the bathroom and taken directly to the office, it was reasonable to assume she had the cigarettes in her purse. Thus, the vice-principal had reasonable cause to suspect a school rule had been broken, and more than just a "hunch" to search the purse. When the vice-principal was searching for the cigarettes, the drug-related evidence was in plain view. Plain view is an exception to the warrant requirement of the 4th Amendment. Thus, the reasonable search for cigarettes led to some of the drug related material being discovered, which justified a further search (including the zippered compartments inside the bag) resulting in the discovery of the cigarettes and other evidence including a small bag of marijuana and cigarette rolling papers.
The Supreme Court overturned the New Jersey Supreme Court ruling.
The Court also stated that states have a duty to provide a safe school environment.
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Concurrence
In a separate, concurring opinion, Justice Powell (joined by Justice O'Connor) stated that while he agreed with the Court's opinion, he felt that students in primary and secondary educational settings should not be afforded the same level of protection for search and seizures as adults and juveniles in non-school settings.
Dissent
Justice Brennan, joined by Justice Marshall, agreed with the majority's reasoning regarding a balancing approach to school searches. He disagreed, however, with the new standard set down by the Court, which he felt was a departure from the traditional "probable cause" approach. He explained:
- "Today's decision sanctions school officials to conduct fullscale searches on a 'reasonableness' standard whose only definite content is that it is not the same test as the 'probable cause' standard found in the text of the Fourth Amendment. In adopting this unclear, unprecedented, and unnecessary departure from generally applicable Fourth Amendment standards, the Court carves out a broad exception to standards that this Court has developed over years of considering Fourth Amendment problems. Its decision is supported neither by precedent nor even by a fair application of the 'Balancing test of power' it proclaims in this very opinion."
See also
- List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 469
- Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton
- Board of Education v. Earls
- Safford Unified School District v. Redding
References
- Text of New Jersey v. T. L. O., 469 U.S. 325 (1985) is available from: Findlaw Justia
- Oyez.org summary
- Summary on LandmarkCases.org