Students' Rights
Do students at school have the same level of rights as adults?
No.
New Jersey v. T.L.O
Police officers on foot patrol pass by Jim's home. While standing on the public sidewalk, they look through Jim's large windows and see contraband (drugs and drug paraphernalia) lying on a table near the window. The police arrest Jim. Did the police search Jim? if so, was the search illegal?
Generally, it is not a search to observe something that is open and obvious in daylight. Also an observation made from a public place of an activity clearly constituting a crime or resulting in probable cause to believe that a crime is occurring is a valid search. That is known as the public view doctrine. However, it becomes more complicated in the police trespass on private property to look through the window. These are generally considered illegal searches.
Second Amendment
Right to Keep and bare arms
Highest Court of Appeal in the country
United States Supreme Court
Standard for search in school
Reasonable suspicion
Segregation by race in schools is unconstitutional.
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka
An arrest warrant is issue for John because he is suspected of committing a robbery. He is arrested inside his home. As the police are taking John one of the police officers sees drugs on a table near the door. The material is confiscated and, after analysis is determined to be heroin. John is charged with possession. Is the seizure legal?
To protect themselves after an arrest, police officers only have the legal right to search and seize objects in the suspect's immediate control (on his person or in the area he can easily reach) but the doctrine of plain view was still in effect. As the police were leaving John's home, the drugs were in plain view and thus, subject to seizure.
First Amendment
Right to Freedom of
- religion
- speech
- press
- assembly
Court with juries
Trial court
How do you determine whether a search was reasonable under the circumstances?
Must be reasonable in
- initiation; and
- scope
Strip searching a student for prescription pain killers was excessively intrusive in scope and violated the Constitution.
Safford Unified School District #1 v. Redding
Officers knocked on the door of Stan's home. His sister, Sara, who was visiting answered the door. The police asked if they could search Stan's bedroom. Sara told them that she was sure he wouldn't mind because he is an honest sister. Stan was a local leader of a radical group. While searching, the police found four machine guns and ammunition. Was the search of Stan's bedroom legal?
No. While a person can consent to a search of his own possessions or mutually shared possessions, someone who does not own the property (Stan's sister) cannot consent to searching that property. A roommate could consent if they shared the bedroom. If they do not share the bedroom, the roommate can only consent to the search of the rooms that they legally did share.
Fourth Amendment
Right to be free from unreasonable search and siezure
Can you appeal a state court case in the United States Supreme Court?
Yes! But only if the court chooses to review your case.
What are some justifications for lowering the standard to search children in schools?
- Student safety
- school officials need to maintain order and discipline
Specific suspicion not required to drug test school athletes.
Vernon School District 47J v. Acton
Bill, while walking home late at night, was stopped by police, asked for his ID and then given a "pat down" search. During the search, the officer felt a small object in Bill's pocket. The officer thought that it might be a plastic bag of drugs. Therefore, he reached into Bill's pocket and pulled out the soft object. It was drugs and Bill was arrested. Was the search legal?
No! The purpose of the "pat down" search is to see if the person is concealing any object that could threaten the officer's or someone else's life. After touching the small object, the officer should not have reached into his pocket unless it felt like a gun or knife.
**also since the police were conducting an investigatory stop, they would have also needed reasonable suspicion that Bill was committing a crime, based on the officers observations and experience.
14th Amendment
Precedent
Law made through cases. A decision becomes authority for deciding later cases.
Can a school punish a student for vulgar speech made on social media while the student was not at school?
No! Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L.
The school district’s decision to suspend student Brandi Levy from the cheerleading team for posting to social media (outside of school hours and away from the school’s campus) vulgar language and gestures critical of the school violates the First Amendment.
Transgender students cannot be denied the right to use the bathroom that affirms their gender.
Grimm v. Gloucester County School Board
Carol, while driving 75 mph in a 65 mph zone, is stopped ad given a traffic ticket (a technical arrest), the officer make a search incident to an arrest and find narcotics in the car. Is the search legal?
No! Pretextual stops are prohibited in New Mexico. A pretextual stop is a traffic stop supported by reasonable suspicion or probable cause that a traffic violation has occurred, but is actually made for an investigative reason that is unrelated to the traffic violation. The scope of the investigatory stop may be expanded beyond the initial reason for the stop of the officer observes articulable facts that raise a reasonable suspicion of additional criminal activity.
Fifth Amendment
Right to remain silent
The trial court!