Question

the supreme court case new jersey v TLO questioned the right students had in public schools. tlo was a new jersey high school student whose locker was searched after school officals had reason to believe she was disributing drugs and cigarettes. she was found guilty and sentenced to a one year probation. tlo appealed the decision all the way to the supreme court which decided that her 4th amendment rights had been violated. do you agree with the supreme courts decision? why or why not? in the answer discuss the 4th amendment and how it applies to this case and whether or not you agree with the final verdict.

Answer 1

The SCOTUS did not rule that T.L.O’s 4th amendment (searches and seizures) rights had been violated. They ruled that the school administrations search of the bag was reasonable under the circumstances (i.e T.L.O. Being a minor and on school property, meaning that while at school, administration is responsible for the well-being and safety of all students, thus allowing them to search T.L.O’s bag for marijuana). A good way to think of it is that while you’re at school, the administration acts as your parents. Your parents don’t need a warrant to search through your room and neither does the administration if you are on school property. The 4th amendment applies to this case because it protects against unlawful searches and seizures (i.e. searches and seizures that are without a warrant). The constitutional question was whether or not T.L.O. Could be charged with a crime/punished or not because the school administration did not have a warrant. However, because the school administration was acting as a loco parentis (latin term for “in place of the parent”) they did not need a warrant to search her bag. Hope this helped!