| Safford Unified School District v. Redding | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Argued April 21, 2009 Decided June 25, 2009 | |
| Full case name | Safford Unified School District #1, et al. v. April Redding |
| Docket no. | 08-479 |
| Citations | 557 U.S. 364 (more) 129 S. Ct. 2633; 174 L. Ed. 2d 354; 77 U.S.L.W. 4591; 245 Ed. Law Rep. 626; 09 Cal. Daily Op. Serv. 7974; 2009 Daily Journal D.A.R. 9383; 21 Fla. L. Weekly Fed. S 1011 |
| Argument | Oral argument |
| Opinion announcement | Opinion announcement |
| Case history | |
| Prior | Summary judgment affirmed, 504 F.3d 828 (9th Cir. 2007); rehearing en banc granted, 514 F.3d 1383 (2008); reversed, 531 F.3d 1071 (9th Cir. 2008); cert. granted, 555 U.S. 1130 (2009). |
| Holding | |
| (1) The search of Redding's underwear violated the Fourth Amendment. (2) Petitioners are protected from liability by qualified immunity. (3) The issue of the school district's liability should be addressed on remand. | |
| Court membership | |
| |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Souter, joined by Roberts, Scalia, Kennedy, Breyer, Alito; Stevens, Ginsburg (Parts I–III) |
| Concur/dissent | Stevens, joined by Ginsburg |
| Concur/dissent | Ginsburg |
| Concur/dissent | Thomas |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. IV | |
Safford Unified School District v. Redding, 557 U.S. 364 (2009), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that a strip search of a middle school student by school officials violated the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits unreasonable searches and seizures.
On October 8, 2003, the assistant principal of Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona, informed 13-year-old Savana Redding that another student had accused her of distributing prescription-strength ibuprofen, which was disallowed without prior permission by school rules. Redding denied this accusation, and after a search of her belongings did not reveal any pills, school officials instructed her to remove her outer clothing and pull out her bra and underpants, which also did not reveal any pills.
Redding's mother sued the Safford Unified School District and the school officials who searched her daughter, arguing that they had violated the Fourth Amendment. On June 25, 2009, in an 8–1 decision authored by Justice David Souter,[a] the Supreme Court held that the search failed to meet the "reasonable suspicion" standard for searches of students in a school setting established by the Court in New Jersey v. T. L. O. (1985), stating that the school lacked reasons to suspect either that the drugs presented a danger or that they were concealed in her underwear. However, the Court also found that because there was sufficient doubt as to whether the law was clearly established at the time of the search, the school officials were shielded from liability by qualified immunity.
The case garnered nationwide interest and sparked debates over the extent to which school officials should enforce zero-tolerance policies in schools. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the only female justice at the time and discussed the case in an interview while a decision was still pending; observers have described Ginsburg's role in the case as emphasizing the need for more diversity on the Supreme Court.
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