Constitutional Law
En Banc 9th Circuit Strikes Girl’s Strip Search
Posted Jul 14, 2008, 01:23 pm CST
By Molly McDonough
A sharply divided 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has sided with a 13-year-old Arizona girl who was subjected to a strip search in which middle school officials tried in vain to find prescription-strength ibruprofen.
The 6-5 ruling (PDF) on Friday holds that the strip search of Savana Redding wasn't a reasonable Fourth Amendment search, the Daily Journal (sub. req.) reports.
At the direction of a principal, a Safford Middle School nurse removed Redding's clothing and shook out her bra and underwear. The principal reportedly ordered the search after receiving a tip from one of Redding's classmates that she was carrying the painkillers in violation of school policy.
"Common sense informs us that directing a 13-year-old girl to remove her clothes, partially revealing her breasts and pelvic area, for allegedly possessing ibuprofen, an infraction that poses an imminent danger to no one, and which could be handled by keeping her in the principal's office until a parent arrived or simply sending her home, was excessively intrusive," Judge Kim McLane Wardlaw wrote for the majority.
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