Court rules for good sense

July 03, 2009 08:47 am

— The Supreme Court’s decision last week to limit strip searches of students was only sensible.
The justices ruled 8-1 that the 2003 strip search of Savanna Redding, a 13-year-old Arizona girl, by school authorities was unreasonable. The school conducted the search based on poor information from another student over two Advil pills.
Strip searches are embarrassing and humiliating, especially for young people, as Justice David Souter pointed out. They should be conducted only in extreme cases as a last resort and they should be based on strong suspicion, which is rooted in fact, not rumor.
Unfortunately, Redding did not receive compensation as the Supreme Court said no guidelines existed prior to its ruling last week. But really, it should have been common sense for the Arizona school not to do what it did.