July 1, 2009: Civil Rights - Immunity from liability for strip search of nursing students to find missing cash, credit card -- Certiorari Granted, Vacated, and Remanded.

 

The United States Supreme Court has granted certiorari, vacated the judgment, and remanded a case from the Sixth Circuit in light of its recent decision in Safford Unified School Dist. No. 1 v. Redding, 2009 WL 1789472. In that case The Supreme Court held that a 13-year-old middle school student's Fourth Amendment right was violated when she was subjected to a search of her bra and underpants by school officials acting on reasonable suspicion that she had brought forbidden prescription and over-the-counter drugs to school, since there were no reasons to suspect the drugs presented a danger or were concealed in her underwear. The Supreme Court further held, however, that the official who ordered the unconstitutional search was entitled to qualified immunity from liability, since there was reason to question the clarity with which the right was established. In the case at bar, seventeen female nursing students were searched separately in a bathroom by a female school nurse who asked them to unsnap their bra and shake it out under their scrub top, without removing their top, and to pull their scrub pants down to their thigh or knee level in a search for reportedly stolen cash, a gift card, and a credit card. The Sixth Circuit determined that the students had a constitutional right protecting them from being strip searched for missing property in the absence of a reasonable and individualized suspicion. The Sixth Circuit further held that this right was clearly established at the time of the search, and thus the defendants were not entitled to qualified immunity. (Case below: (unpublished) (C.A.6-Ohio 2008).)