SCOTUS declares Strip-search Unconstitutional

From the LA Times:

"""Justice David H. Souter, in what could be his final opinion before his retirement, said a strip-search is "categorically distinct" from other efforts to find drugs or weapons on campus because it is embarrassing and humiliating to the children who are targeted.

In the past, the court has said school officials can search purses, backpacks or lockers if they have reason to believe a student has drugs. And twice, justices have upheld mandatory drug testing of high schoolers, including athletes, even when there was no reason to think any of them was using drugs.

But requiring a student to remove her clothes goes too far, Souter said. He suggested such a search would be justified only if a school official had strong reason to believe a student was hiding a dangerous drug or a weapon in his or her underwear."""

The SCOTUS made the obviously correct decision in Safford. Of course, educational bureaucrats and local cops regularly conduct KGB-like search and seizures, and this decision is unlikely to stop them. Americans who value (and understand) the 4th might take a look at Clarence Thomas's rather cop-like dissent, however. Thomas claimed the local edu-crats have the right to make the judgement call, and suggests they shouldn't be overly concerned with the mere Constitution. Thank Osiris a few of the SCOTUS geniuses understood the real meaning of the 4th--to protect the accused (in the Safford case, a 13 yr old schoolgirl), regardless of the accused's age, race, socio-economic standing, or political affiliation (Due Process applies even to the non-Democrat--a concept many Sally Fields liberals can't quite grasp).

Anyone who has been shaken down by cops--or, better, had some city pig's Glock an inch away from one's temple--for "reasonable suspicion" of drugs or a firearm realizes the 4th is pretty much a joke, unless one's driving a Hummer or new Benz, and has a high-powered defense attorney riding shotgun (Donde esta Dr. Gonzo?). Read a few police reports and one soon discovers nearly all search and seizure methods currently in use for dope cases (and most firearms) are unconstitutional. They can search your car if they suspect something (even that arguably BS), but in theory the cops can't then go to your house and upturn everything, unless you're in the Gambino crime family, or they take the time to obtain a warrant. But those sort of warrantless Gestapo or KGB searches do go down every day. The judicial business of course depends on the cop-goons, and the black gown posse rarely questions the police power, even in regards to that supposedly sacred 4th. If it's your word vs. the boys in blue, you'll lose.