Opinion ID: 476704
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Applicability of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments

Text: 45 We agree with the district court that the visual inspection conducted by government officials of those parts of the human body usually covered by clothing implicates fourth amendment concerns. The fourth amendment provides: The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.... U.S. Const. amend. IV. The Supreme Court has made clear that protection of the fourth amendment extends beyond those suspected of criminal behavior. Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 530, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 1731, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967). Nor is the amendment's protection limited to encounters with the police. New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 335, 105 S.Ct. 733, 740, 83 L.Ed.2d 720 (1985). A search within the meaning of the fourth amendment occurs when the government intrudes upon an individual's legitimate expectation of privacy. Illinois v. Andreas, 463 U.S. 765, 771, 103 S.Ct. 3319, 3324, 77 L.Ed.2d 1003 (1983). The physical examinations conducted by the DCFS caseworkers include a visual examination of portions of the child's body which are normally covered by clothing. In Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), the Supreme Court held that a search protected by the fourth amendment occurs when an officer frisks a suspect. The Court noted, [e]ven a limited search of the outer clothing for weapons constitutes a severe, though brief, intrusion upon cherished personal security, and it must surely be an annoying, frightening, and perhaps humiliating experience. Id. at 24-25, 88 S.Ct. at 1881-82. More recently, in T.L.O., the Supreme Court, citing Terry as an example, has also indicated that even a limited search of a person is a substantial invasion of privacy. 105 S.Ct. at 741. A search of a child's person or of a closed purse or other bag carried on her person, no less than a similar search carried out on an adult, is undoubtedly a severe violation of subjective expectations of privacy. Id. at 741-42. Indeed, in Doe v. Renfrow, 631 F.2d 91 (7th Cir.1980) (per curiam), cert. denied, 451 U.S. 1022, 101 S.Ct. 3015, 69 L.Ed.2d 395 (1981), this court, adopting as its own the opinion of the district judge, Doe v. Renfrow, 475 F.Supp. 1012 (N.D.Ind.1979), held that [s]ubjecting a student to a nude search is more than just the mild inconvenience of a pocket search, rather, it is an intrusion into an individual's basic justifiable expectation of privacy. 475 F.Supp. at 1024. Indeed, we added: It does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude that a nude search of a thirteen-year-old child is an invasion of constitutional rights of some magnitude. More than that: it is a violation of any known principle of human decency. 631 F.2d at 92-93. 46 Once it is determined that a particular search is within the scope of the fourth amendment, it must be determined whether the search is permitted by that amendment. The fourth amendment prohibits only unreasonable searches. As the Supreme Court noted in T.L.O.: 47 Although the underlying command of the Fourth Amendment is always that searches and seizures be reasonable, what is reasonable depends on the context within which a search takes place. The determination of the standard of reasonableness governing any specific class of searches requires balancing the need to search against the invasion which the search entails. Camara v. Municipal Court, supra, 387 U.S., at 536-537, 87 S.Ct., at 1735. On one side of the balance are arrayed the individual's legitimate expectations of privacy and personal security; on the other, the government's need for effective methods to deal with breaches of public order. 48 105 S.Ct. at 741. Therefore, whether a search is reasonable, in the constitutional sense, will vary according to the context of the search. For example, to ensure that a search by police of an individual's home for evidence of a crime is reasonable, the search must, under usual circumstances, be conducted pursuant to a warrant issued by a magistrate and based on probable cause. See Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 14, 68 S.Ct. 367, 369, 92 L.Ed. 436 (1948). On the other hand, a search of a student's purse by a school administrator was reasonable because there were 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. T.L.O., 105 S.Ct. at 744. 49 In this case, in refusing to grant a preliminary injunction, the district court determined that a DCFS caseworker, without violating the strictures of the fourth amendment, could conduct a physical examination of the child as part of any investigation of alleged physical abuse. The court first concluded that neither a warrant nor probable cause were necessary in the context of the child abuse investigation. The district judge agreed with the defendants that requiring the DCFS to meet such a standard ignores the problems resulting from children who are not old enough to speak, children who will not admit to being abused, parents who will not admit to abusing their children, parents who are unaware that their children are being abused. E.Z., 603 F.Supp. at 1560 (quoting Defendants Post-Hearing Memorandum in Opposition to Plaintiffs Motion for Preliminary Injunction at 7). In the opinion of the district judge, the fact that the discretion of the caseworker is circumscribed by the hot-line standards, as well as the child's ability to refuse to cooperate at any time, ensures that the search is reasonable. Id. at 1560 & n. 19. On this record, we believe that the district judge was correct in holding that the searches in question here could be conducted without meeting the strictures of probable cause or the warrant requirement. However, while we do not believe it is outcome determinative at this early stage of the litigation, we are somewhat less convinced, at least on this record, that a nude body search may be constitutionally conducted in every instance in which the hot-line criteria are met. We address in some detail each of these conclusions in the following subsections. 50