School Strip-Search Case Heads to Supreme Court

And sounds skeptical

(NEWSER) - Savana Redding’s lawyers made their case before the Supreme Court yesterday, condemning the strip-search of a 13-year-old in a hunt for ibuprofen as unreasonable search and seizure. But the justices were skeptical, the LA Times reports, with their questions indicating they were leery of limiting school officials’ powers to look for drugs, which might be more serious than ibuprofen. “How is the school administrator supposed to know?” asked John Roberts. More»

(AP) - An Arizona middle school's strip search of a teenage girl accused of having prescription-strength ibuprofen was illegal, the Supreme Court ruled today. School officials violated the law with their search of Savana Redding, the justices said in an 8-1 ruling. Redding, who now attends college, was 13 when school officials ordered her to remove her clothes and shake out her underwear because they were looking for pills. No pills were found. More»

Justices set for controversial year

(NEWSER) - The Supreme Court has added another high-profile case to its slate: Justices will examine the Arizona immigration law that has sparked nationwide controversy, the AP reports. They'll rule on a US appeals court decision that barred portions of the law, including a measure requiring police investigating other matters to check a person's immigration status if they suspect he or she is an illegal immigrant. More»

NJ strip-search case reaches Supreme Court

(NEWSER) - Is it unconstitutional to strip-search every new inmate entering a jail? The Supreme Court will consider that question next month when it hears the case of Albert Florence, a 35-year-old New Jersey man who spent a week in jail because of a warrant that wrongfully said he was wanted for nonpayment of a fine. Florence is suing the two jails where he was strip-searched and detained, arguing that searching him for contraband when he had been arrested for a minor offense violated his constitutional protection against unreasonable searches, reports the Washington Post . More»

Justice take case on whether police need warrant to track people

(AP) - The Supreme Court will weigh in on an important privacy issue for the digital age, whether the police need a warrant before using a global positioning system device to track a suspect's movements. The justices said today they will hear the Obama administration's appeal of a court ruling that favored a criminal defendant. The federal appeals court in Washington overturned a criminal conviction because the police had no warrant for the GPS device they secretly installed on a man's car. More»