Justine Lindholm and Rilee HasselmannP.3

T.L.O. is a fourteen year old girl accused of smoking in the girls’ bathroom at her high school.

Since smoking was a violation of school rules, she was sent to the Assistant Vice Principal’s office.

The Assistant Vice Principal searched her bag and found marijuana and other drug equipment such as a pipe, plastic bags, a large amount of money, the names of two students who owed her money, and letters that implicated T.L.O. in marijuana dealing.

T.L.O thought that the searching of her bag violated her Fourth amendment rights.

Since the Fourth Amendment protects a citizen against unreasonable searches and seizures, she thought that the search of her bag was unreasonable.

The final vote was 6 to 3, in favor of New Jersey.

The Court decided that the search did not violate her amendment rights.

Suspicion was aroused due to the presence of rolling papers, commonly used for smoking marijuana, in her purse so the search was reasonable.

The Court ruled that school officials do not have to have a probable cause to conduct searches.

Also, the Court ruled that officials are allowed to search a student as long as “there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated/is violating a law or school rule.”

http://www.ourcourts.org/flashgames/argument_wars-v1.1.1/html/game.html?caseId=New_Jersey_v_TLO

Click on the link above (or copy and paste) to play Argument Wars, a fun and educational game dealing with the New Jersey v. T.L.O. case.

Glencoe Division of Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company. "New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)." Supreme Court Case Studies 49: 97-98. Print.

O'Malley, Anne. "New Jersey v. T.L.O.: Drug Searches in Schools.(Young Adult Review)(Brief Article)." Power Search Document. Aug. 1996-1998. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. <?

http://find.galegroup.com/gps/retrieve.do?contentSet=IAC-Documents&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28KE%2CNone%2C20%29new+jersey+v.+t.l.o.%24&sgHitCountType=None&inPS=true&sort=DateDescend&searchType=BasicSearchForm&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&searchId=R2&currentPosition=1&userGroupName=mnkeviewhi&docId=A21236832&docType=IAC&contentSet=IAC-Documents>.

White, Byron R. "New Jersey v. T. L. O." New Jersey v. T. L. O. U.S. Supreme Court Case Summary. 15 Jan. 1985. Web. 18 Feb. 2010. <http://www.oyez.org/cases/1980-

1989/1983/1983_83_712>.