Opinion ID: 2165491
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fourth Amendment Rights Violation

Text: The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees all U.S. citizens the right to be free from unreasonable searches. Appellees herein contend their Fourth Amendment rights were violated when they were searched by the Appellant teachers/administrators. In analyzing the constitutionality of a search conducted within the school setting, we turn to the guidance provided in New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 105 S.Ct. 733, 83 L.Ed.2d 720 (1985), wherein the U.S. Supreme Court determined first that the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches applies to searches performed by public school officials as opposed to exclusively law enforcement officers. Second, the Court outlined that because of the special needs of the school environment a standard lesser than probable cause should be utilized to assess the legality of school searches. See Id. at 333, 105 S.Ct. at 738. The Court promulgated a simple reasonableness standard in reviewing the circumstances of a school search and quoted from Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1879, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), which requires a two-fold inquiry for interpreting the reasonableness of any search: (1) whether the search was justified at its inception, and (2) whether the search was reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the [search]. The Court in T.L.O . outlined that a search by a teacher/administrator of a student would be `justified at its inception' when there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law or the rules of the school and would be permissible in its scope when the measures adopted are reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction. 469 U.S. at 342, 105 S.Ct. at 743. Recently, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals confronted a case factually similar to the case before us. In Beard v. Whitmore Lake School District, 402 F.3d 598 (6th Cir., 2005), the court addressed a § 1983 claim against a police officer and teachers involved in strip searching high school students after another student in the high school gym class reported a theft of money. Approximately 20 boys were taken to the boys' locker room and individually asked to remove their shirts and lower their pants and underwear, while 5 female students were taken to the girls' locker room and made to pull up their shirts and pull down their pants while standing in a circle. Neither the boys nor girls were touched during the searches and the girls were not made to remove their underwear. The stolen money was never discovered as was the case here. The searches in Beard were found to be unconstitutional. The Court of Appeals also found, however, that at the time the searches were performed the law regarding the reasonableness of a strip search under these circumstances was not clearly established. Therefore, the court reversed the trial court's denial of the Defendant's motion for summary judgment regarding the § 1983 claim. In determining the searches conducted on the students were unconstitutional in scope, the court was guided by the analysis found in Vernonia Sch. Dist. 47J v. Acton, 515 U.S. 646, 115 S.Ct. 2386, 132 L.Ed.2d 564 (1995), which sets forth the relevant criteria for evaluating searches performed in the absence of individualized suspicion. In Vernonia , the Supreme Court considered three factors to determine if the school searches were reasonable, (1) the student's legitimate expectation of privacy, (2) the intrusiveness of the search, and (3) the severity of the school system's needs that were met by the search. Id. at 664-65, 115 S.Ct. 2386. The 6th Circuit in Beard found the students' privacy interests were great, quoting from T.L.O ., wherein the Supreme Court noted that the search of a child's person ... is undoubtedly a severe violation of subjective expectations of privacy. See T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 337-38, 105 S.Ct. at 740-741. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, however, found that one's presence in a locker room lowered one's privacy expectations so that a child searched within a locker room would not be as deprived of a privacy interest as a child searched within an office, for example. See Beard v. Whitmore Lake School District, 402 F.3d 598, 605 (6th Cir.2005). The Court of Appeals in Beard found the scope of the search to be determinative as to its constitutionality, as the scope exceeded what a student would normally expect, even in a locker room situation. The court pointed out these students did not voluntarily subject themselves to a degree of regulation as in the Vernonia case where the students were high school athletes being randomly drug tested. The court also noted the character of the intrusion on the student's privacy interests was greater and would reveal more than the limited information at issue in the Vernonia drug testing. The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals also found the governmental interest in this fact scenario was not as great as in cases like Vernonia dealing with drug issues, even though it could be said there is a valid interest in maintaining an atmosphere free from theft. Id. The court elaborated on governmental interests saying a search to find items that pose a threat to the health or safety of students would serve a weightier governmental interest than one merely to find money or stolen property, and a search conducted without individualized suspicion also decreases the governmental interest in conducting a search. The Beard court ruled the male searches were unconstitutional, saying: [I]n light of the highly intrusive nature of the [male] searches, the fact the searches were undertaken to find missing money, the fact the searches were performed on a substantial number of students, the fact that the searches were performed in the absence of individualized suspicion, and the lack of consent, taken together, demonstrate that the searches were not reasonable, ...[and thereby] under T.L.O . and Vernonia , the searches violated the Fourth Amendment. Id. The Court of Appeals then separately analyzed the female searches, concluding they were also unconstitutional for much of the same reasoning. The only difference being the 5 females were not required to remove their underwear, but did undress in front of each other. The court cited Reynolds v. City of Anchorage, 379 F.3d 358, 365 (6th Cir.2004), wherein the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals analyzed the reasonableness of a strip search occurring in a juvenile group home and found it important that the search was conducted in a way designed to minimize its intrusive effect and that the search took place in the presence of only a single staff member. In the case at hand, we deal with three girls, one who refused to be searched, and two others who were searched in the girls' locker room by female teachers. The searches were actually conducted on three classrooms of students, but we only address today two of the girls' complaints. There is a factual dispute as to what was required of the girls during these searches. The students contend they were required to raise their shirts and lower their shorts, revealing their underwear. The teachers claim the girls were only required to turn their waistbands down, not revealing their underwear. If the facts are as the students allege, we have almost the exact situation as that analyzed in Beard by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. If the facts are as the teachers allege, the searches would appear to be less intrusive than those discussed in Beard , as the girls' underwear was not revealed, and the searches could hardly be described as strip searches. The searches the students described, which involved removing their clothing to the extent of exposing their underwear to the teachers, would now be considered unconstitutional because (1) the searches were intrusive in nature, (2) the searches were conducted to find a missing pair of shorts, (3) a large number of students were subject to the searches, (4) the searches lacked individualized suspicion, (5) the students did not consent to the searches, and (6) the searches were conducted in front of other students. This analysis mirrors that articulated by the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in Beard . If the searches were conducted as the teachers/administrators describe, the searches were not unconstitutional (or didn't violate the Fourth Amendment) in that the scope of such a search would not exceed what a student would expect in a locker room setting and could not be deemed as intrusive as a search requiring exposure of one's underwear to others, be they students and/or teachers/administrators. However, we have concluded we need not remand this case for a factual determination of which search described by the parties actually occurred, because we hold today that the law, at the time these searches were conducted, did not clearly establish searches conducted in either described manner would be unreasonable, and therefore the teachers/administrators are entitled to qualified immunity.