A full panel of Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals judges has heard arguments in the case of a 13-year-old girl who claims her constitutional rights were violated when she was strip-searched at school.
Savana Redding was an eighth grader at Safford Middle School in Safford, Ariz., in 2003 when she was pulled from class by a vice principal who was investigating accusations that the girl was giving prescription-strength Ibuprofen pills to classmates.
The school has a zero-tolerance policy toward prescription drugs on campus.
Attorneys presented their arguments Wednesday in San Francisco.
Redding denied providing the pills to a classmate and was escorted by a female administrative assistant to the nurse’s office where she was strip-searched.
Redding’s lawyers said the girl was ordered to strip to her underwear, move her bra to the side and pull her underwear out, exposing her pelvic area and breasts. No pills were found.
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The school argued that the search was reasonable and justified because pills had been found on campus and a student had linked them to Redding.
In September 2007, a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit agreed with the school, ruling 2-1 that the search was constitutional. The court was “reasonably related in scope to circumstances that justified search, as required for search to be reasonable under Fourth Amendment.”
The court now will review the three judge panel’s decision. The case is Redding vs. Safford Unified School District, No: 05-15759.
