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Strip Search Ruled Illegal, But Supreme Court Remains Divided
The Supreme Court has issued a ruling that, when school officials conducted a strip search of a 13 year old girl in the hopes of finding ibuprofen, they crossed the line. Still, in a divided opinion, the ruling bars the student from seeking any damages from the school.
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It was after hearing her fellow judges' questions during this case that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, currently the only woman on the Supreme Court's bench, told USA Today that it was clear to her that they needed more women on the court. Said Ginsburg, "They have never been a 13-year-old girl. It's a very sensitive age for a girl. I didn't think that my colleagues, some of them, quite understood."
Among the exchanges that Ginsburg may have been referring to was a question from Justice Stephen Breyer. Via Bloomberg, a clearly miffed Breyer had asked the girl's attorney, "Why is this a major thing to say, 'Strip down to your underclothing'? How bad is this -- underclothes?" Ginsburg's quick response was to note that it went beyond that. "They were asked to shake their bra out," said Ginsburg, "to stretch the top of their pants and shake that out."
As Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor gears up to go through the tough nomination process, this ruling -- and Ginsburg's clear frustration -- point out the importance of having a variety of life experiences on the bench of the High Court, and that one woman out of nine Justices is not enough. Ginsburg cast a dissenting opinion to the portion of the ruling that prohibited the victim from seeking damages, in which she was joined by only one other judge, Justice John Paul Stevens.
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It was after hearing her fellow judges' questions during this case that Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, currently the only woman on the Supreme Court's bench, told USA Today that it was clear to her that they needed more women on the court. Said Ginsburg, "They have never been a 13-year-old girl. It's a very sensitive age for a girl. I didn't think that my colleagues, some of them, quite understood."
Among the exchanges that Ginsburg may have been referring to was a question from Justice Stephen Breyer. Via Bloomberg, a clearly miffed Breyer had asked the girl's attorney, "Why is this a major thing to say, 'Strip down to your underclothing'? How bad is this -- underclothes?" Ginsburg's quick response was to note that it went beyond that. "They were asked to shake their bra out," said Ginsburg, "to stretch the top of their pants and shake that out."
As Supreme Court Nominee Sonia Sotomayor gears up to go through the tough nomination process, this ruling -- and Ginsburg's clear frustration -- point out the importance of having a variety of life experiences on the bench of the High Court, and that one woman out of nine Justices is not enough. Ginsburg cast a dissenting opinion to the portion of the ruling that prohibited the victim from seeking damages, in which she was joined by only one other judge, Justice John Paul Stevens.
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Comments (18)
Wish Belkin
1:59PM Jun 25th 2009
"Why is this a major thing to say, 'Strip down to your underclothing'? How bad is this -- underclothes?"
______________________________________________________________________
Breyer must not have any children.
I never thought I would think this way, but Ginsburg may be right.
We need more women on the Supreme Court.
______________________________________________________________________
Breyer must not have any children.
I never thought I would think this way, but Ginsburg may be right.
We need more women on the Supreme Court.
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(2)
(2) 
rhuddle950
2:39PM Jun 25th 2009
No offense to you Ms. Misra, but this only displays why Sotomayor should not be on the Supreme Court. Or for that matter, Justice Ginsberg.
Being a Justice is about interpreting the legal issues established by current laws in place and whether or not they are Constitutional. Not about some empathetic reasoning involving the emotional scars inflicted on Justice Ginsberg as a young girl.
Don't get me wrong: The school system had no right to strip search the girl, but not for the reasons you or Justice Ginsberg cite. They had no right because it was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
The day we start determining Justice based on emotion, is the day we can no longer consider ourselves a Constitutional Sovereignty goverend by the rule of law.
Being a Justice is about interpreting the legal issues established by current laws in place and whether or not they are Constitutional. Not about some empathetic reasoning involving the emotional scars inflicted on Justice Ginsberg as a young girl.
Don't get me wrong: The school system had no right to strip search the girl, but not for the reasons you or Justice Ginsberg cite. They had no right because it was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
The day we start determining Justice based on emotion, is the day we can no longer consider ourselves a Constitutional Sovereignty goverend by the rule of law.
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(3)
(3) rhuddle950
2:39PM Jun 25th 2009
No offense to you Ms. Misra, but this only displays why Sotomayor should not be on the Supreme Court. Or for that matter, Justice Ginsberg.
Being a Justice is about interpreting the legal issues established by current laws in place and whether or not they are Constitutional. Not about some empathetic reasoning involving the emotional scars inflicted on Justice Ginsberg as a young girl.
Don't get me wrong: The school system had no right to strip search the girl, but not for the reasons you or Justice Ginsberg cite. They had no right because it was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
The day we start determining Justice based on emotion, is the day we can no longer consider ourselves a Constitutional Sovereignty goverend by the rule of law.
Being a Justice is about interpreting the legal issues established by current laws in place and whether or not they are Constitutional. Not about some empathetic reasoning involving the emotional scars inflicted on Justice Ginsberg as a young girl.
Don't get me wrong: The school system had no right to strip search the girl, but not for the reasons you or Justice Ginsberg cite. They had no right because it was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
The day we start determining Justice based on emotion, is the day we can no longer consider ourselves a Constitutional Sovereignty goverend by the rule of law.
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(-1)
(-1) jackolcal
3:23PM Jun 25th 2009
Does not the right to privacy by its very nature protect individuals from among other things, emotional distress caused by unreasonable searches involving the removal of clothing beyond what is considered decent??
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(2) Terry
3:53PM Jun 25th 2009
On the contrary, this reaffirms why we need broader diversity on the court. The court has historically taken into account the affects of it's rulings and the fact that 8 men don't see much wrong with stipping to your underwear and shaking them out, shows that the don't understand the affect of having a young girl do the same thing. It is absurd that out of 110 justices in our history, only 2 have been other than white and only 2 have been female. That is the shame of our country.
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(-1) Alwayspissedoff@something
4:12PM Jun 25th 2009
Affirmative action then Terry?
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(-1) Terry
4:20PM Jun 25th 2009
No, but an end to racism and sexism. You can't tell me that when 106 justices are whie males the selection process was fair. Why do people like you try to turn everything around to justify your bigotry and racism? The court should more closely represent the make up of the country. Half the people are women and there is currently one out of nine justices that is female and only 2 in it's entire history.
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(0)
(0) Carolyn Bond
7:21PM Jun 25th 2009
There should be more Hispanics or people of color. Since this country is starting to become "Brown." White males are becoming obsolete...:) Boy am I going to get it, now...
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(-2) Alwayspissedoff@something
1:05AM Jun 26th 2009
That's affirmative action my friend.
–noun- the encouragement of increased representation of women and minority-group members, esp. in employment.
–noun- the encouragement of increased representation of women and minority-group members, esp. in employment.
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(1) drmoncure
4:36PM Jun 25th 2009
I have never given the community college graduates the right to strip search or perform corporal punishment upon my children. If that were my daughter I would not care about the supreme court-there would be a dead school principal on the floor. It is time we take back our freedom from oppressive government. Compulsory education is supposed to benefit society, not act like anopther lame arm of the powers that be.
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(1) David S.
4:45PM Jun 25th 2009
Well, the final decision on the first ruling was 8 - 1, with only Justice Thomas disagreeing with the majority (gee, what a shock). School officials need to contact a minor's parent or guardian if they have a believe a student is concealing drugs or something illegal on their person. As to the decision about not allowing a student to seek damages, I don't agree. How can the justices on one hand say this is "crossing the line" but not allow someone the right to seek financial compensation?
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(5)
(5) kathy
12:40AM Jun 26th 2009
DavidS, I agree, you are so right on target!
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(1) Carolyn Bond
7:26PM Jun 25th 2009
Too many White males on the court.
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(-2) rocksabound
7:44PM Jun 25th 2009
Typical hogwash!
Another constructive-demonstration-proof-positive of the logical proposition that the "law", which is a LOGICAL STRUCTURE that strives to adhere to the SELF-CONSISTENCY concept of STARE DECISIS, just as mathematics itself requires logical self consistency, therefore succumbs to the same INCOMPLETENESS and IMPERFECTION principles adduced in THAT discipline by the eminent German mathematician Kurt Gödel way back in the 1920s-30s.
So what ELSE is new??!
Frank Hummel
St. Louis, MO. area
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(1) kathy
12:38AM Jun 26th 2009
And they wanted a strip search to look for Ibuprofen? A legal over the counter drug for headaches? I hope Judge Ginsburg gets her chance at telling the other judges what idiots they are!!!
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(2) pmbalele
1:53AM Jun 26th 2009
Ginsburg said"They have never been a 13-year-old girl. It's a very sensitive age for a girl. I didn't think that my colleagues, some of them, quite understood." Of course the other justices are males. The right-wing people have been cursing that Napolino said to the effect that a white male would not come to the same conclusion as hers. This is, I believe, a similar statement. Our judgements, like jurors, are sometimes influenced by our experience in life.
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(1) kilnntime
1:12PM Jun 26th 2009
Go ahead and give up your rights , your childrens rights and then sit back and wonder why it is that you have no rights left in this country. I can not believe anyone would say its no big deal, it is a big deal , and it will be a big deal when someone accuses you of something and they strip search you or your child. This is America still we do have some rights left for a little while anyway, they are getting less and less as they make more and more people dependant on government and continue to dummy down America thru the lack of education in our government schools.
Shame on anyone who trades liberty and freedom for security. You can not steal from others to make your life more comfortable, eventually we will all end up with nothing. I am shocked there are people who see nothing wrong with someone making an accusation and then the other person having to strip to prove its not true.
Shame on anyone who trades liberty and freedom for security. You can not steal from others to make your life more comfortable, eventually we will all end up with nothing. I am shocked there are people who see nothing wrong with someone making an accusation and then the other person having to strip to prove its not true.
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(1) anniewheelr
4:38PM Jun 26th 2009
The student should have been allowed to sue.
We weren't even talking about illegal drugs but Ibuprofen....school administrators are out of control. Many won't accept a note from a parent but burden the medical system demanding a doctor's note. They won't allow a student to even carry aspirin, Tylenol, or ibuprofen.
I don't think that more women on the court would have made a difference because for each case that some women might go a different way; there are ones that men might understand better. It should be about the law...
If they crossed the line....the student should have been allowed to sue.
I do wonder if the girl had been a minority if they'd have stopped her from suing?
We weren't even talking about illegal drugs but Ibuprofen....school administrators are out of control. Many won't accept a note from a parent but burden the medical system demanding a doctor's note. They won't allow a student to even carry aspirin, Tylenol, or ibuprofen.
I don't think that more women on the court would have made a difference because for each case that some women might go a different way; there are ones that men might understand better. It should be about the law...
If they crossed the line....the student should have been allowed to sue.
I do wonder if the girl had been a minority if they'd have stopped her from suing?
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