T. L. O. Case Study

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Tracy Lois Odem (also known as T.L.O.) was a 14-year-old girl attending Piscataway Township High School. One day she was smoking with a friend in the bathroom. One of the teachers walked in and confronted them. T.L.O. and her friend were taken to the Principal's office. Where an Administrator asked them if they were smoking. One of the girls confessed and said she had smoked. The other girl known as T.L.O denied it. The administrator wasn’t buying it and asked to see her purse. Once T.L.O refused the administrator took her purse by force. When he looked inside he saw cigarettes and cigarette rolling papers in plain sight. He kept searching through the purse and found a small amount of marijuana, a pipe, empty plastic bags, a large wad of money in $1 …show more content…
T.L.O.: The Fourth Amendment in public schools” Nicandro Iannacci (2016) describes the facts of the New Jersey v. T.L.O. case and how Justice Write describes the 4th amendment in schools White states that “the legality of a search of a student should depend simply on the reasonableness under all the circumstances of the search. ” As such, a warrant is not required to search a student, nor is “probable cause” required. On the one hand, he wrote, “schoolchildren have legitimate expectations of privacy. Justices William Brennan and John Paul Stevens wrote partial dissents, both joined by Justice Thurgood Marshall, expressing concern about the majority's rationale and its apparent weakening of Fourth Amendment protections. “It is evident,” he wrote, “that the school setting requires some easing of the restrictions to which searches by public authorities are ordinarily subject. Justice White detailed precisely how the Fourth Amendment applies in public schools. ” On the other hand, schools have an “equally legitimate need to maintain an environment in which learning can take place. This excerpt from Justice Brennan’s opinion captures the feeling. White answered by distinguishing the