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D.Minn.: Routine searches of disabled students violated Fourth Amendment

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Disabled students were unconstitutionally searched when they came to school everyday, but the special situation leads to qualified immunite. Hough v. Shakopee Pub. Schools, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26721 (D. Minn. March 30, 2009): As discussed above, the undisputed facts establish that MRVSEC violated plaintiffs' Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches. But the Court does not believe that the law with respect to school searches was so unequivocal that the searches were objectively unreasonable in light of clearly established legal principles. Under Doe, suspicionless searches like those challenged in this case are plainly unconstitutional in the ordinary school setting. But MRVSEC programs are not ordinary school settings; they serve only special-education students, and those students receive services that are not provided -- or are provided to only a small minority of students -- in ordinary schools...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 06, 2009 (boomark / email).