SUPREME COURT REAFFIRMS BOUNDARIES FOR SCHOOL POLICIES

Leeway ought to be given to school officials to enforce
zero-tolerance policies for drugs and violence. But it is not tying
their hands to ask authorities to respect a student's basic rights.

THE U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of a 13-year-old girl
strip-searched by school officials appropriately thwarts officials
who might overreach in the name of enforcing zero-tolerance drug policies.

Justice David Souter wrote for the majority and offered one cogent
point after another about the need for boundaries in enforcing school policies.

Authorities at the Arizona middle school would have been justified in
their 2003 search had they confined it to the girl's backpack and
outer clothing. But when they searched her undergarments, exposing
her breasts and pelvic area to some degree, the search went from
reasonable and legal to an "embarrassing, frightening and humiliating
search." Souter said.

Savana Redding, now a 19-year-old college student, was suspected of
having prescription-strength drugs, which are banned in school
without prior permission. The search was a breathtaking example of
overreach. The suspected contraband was not illegal drugs or powerful
ones that might have compelled heavier measures in the interest of
student safety.

The court's ruling was nearly unanimous, with Justice Clarence Thomas
the sole dissenter.

A larger argument within the context of the case drew a more mixed
reaction from the court and promises to remain a focus of debate in
education circles. The majority opinion protected the assistant
principal who ordered the search from liability, noting that "parents
are known to overreact to protect their children from danger, and a
school official with responsibility for safety may tend to do the same."

Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg disagreed.
Ginsburg pointed out correctly that the assistant principal committed
humiliating actions, including making Redding sit in a chair outside
his office for more than two hours and failing to call her parents.

That doesn't sound like action taken in the interest of student safety.