There should be great concern when these nine jurists take such a case. The Court has steadily stripped students of their rights with regard to free speech and protection of arbitrary or abusive searches. While the federal court of appeals found the search “traumatizing” and illegal, it is likely that consistently pro-government justices like Chief Justice Roberts and Associate Justice Alito will see little problem with Ibuprofen strip searches.
In this case, the vice principal had discovered prescription-strength ibuprofen pills on one of Reddings’ friends. That friend then accused Redding of providing her with the pills: typical flipping of an Ibu-head.
Redding was pulled from class by a male vice principal, Kerry Wilson, who led the interrogation and had a nurse and his assistant strip her and search her. No drug were found in her underwear or bra (despite the fact that underwear searches have proven successful with lawyers recently).
The Ninth Circuit ruled that “[c]ommon 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 the Supreme Court appears interested in setting aside the common sense and stripping students further of their basic rights.
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