I don't usually recommend anything for the blog but this one is a beaut

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/16/teen.strip.search/index.html

"The court wrote: "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 ... was excessively intrusive."

Now I bet I can find some people who will argue that you need extra security at a school but how the hell do you justify this all over something as simple as asprin? Here is the claim by the school against probable cause:

"In its appeal to the high court, the school district said requiring a legal standard of "probable cause" to conduct student searches would cast a "roadblock to the kind of swift and effective response that is too often needed to protect the very safety of students, particularly from the threats posed by drugs and weapons."

What about common sense... searching for a gun is one thing but asprin that you can find in a damn seat cushion is something else..

I posted it on Dvorak Uncensored.  Here's a link.

Here we go folks the scotus is hearing the case this week and I for one will keep an ear out for their answer..

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/19/scotus.strip.search/index.html

Several things bother me about this case as presented.
-why are school authorities allowed to do strip searches in the first place? This is a law enforcement function.
-before doing the strip search did they first get a signed affidavit from the student who claimed to have received the Ibuprofen from the complainant?
-next did the school authorities get a signed affidavit from the complainant agreeing to the search?
-did the complainant not request to be represented by legal council?
And finally do you still wonder why young people have a serious distrust of authorities, when those who are supposed to be teaching them about what is legal, and what are your rights in society ignore the basic fundamental principles of our justice system! I don't! This medication is a legal pharmaceutical. What difference does a 2 X 200mg pills of over the counter make to 1 X 400mg prescription pill, ABSOLUTELY NONE!
I also hope the complainant sues the student that implicated her! Too often the real culprit is the finger pointer!
Just maybe our priorities are way out of whack!

Zero tolerance policy gone to the extreme which denies legal medication where marajuana is being handed around in a dark corner. Schools have always had more legal protection but idiots like these force the courts to slap them back down to a normal level but for now it is a waiting game to see what the court decides.

Justice Stephen Breyer asked Wright why the school used such an extreme form of a search. "We can think of a lot of things that are a lot less intrusive," Justice Breyer said. "It seems so easy: 'Put on your gym clothes.' "

Wright responded: "I'm sure in the heat of the moment that issue wasn't thought through."

Jeesh you would think with that comment that they were looking for a nuclear device...

http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0422/p02s04-usju.html

I thought one of you would have called me out on the point that under aged individuals cannot sign legal documents or waivers with out parental consent, and if they do they are null /void! So I will recant on that account!

Eh I am chilling at work so I only read it quickly but I assumed the waver was a parental one... which in the US children in police custody are supposed to have a parent or lawyer present before say a strip search...