Mr. Beat presents
Supreme Court Briefs
Piscataway, New Jersey March 7, 1980
A teacher catches two students smoking in a bathroom of Piscataway High School.
Since smoking in the bathroom perhaps obviously went against school rules, the teacher took
the two girls to the Principal’s office.
Assistant Vice Principal Theodore Choplick interrogated the two girls.
One of them admitted to smoking.
The other girl, a 14-year old freshman later known simply by her initials to protect her
privacy, T.L.O., denied that she had been smoking.
Choplick thought T.L.O. was lying, of course.
He forced her to come into his office so he could search her purse.
Inside the purse, he found a pack of cigarettes.
Next to the cigarettes, in plain view, were rolling papers, which he thought might be
used for marijuana, so he kept searching the purse.
He also found a pipe, empty plastic bags, a bunch of $1 bills rolled up together, an
index card that apparently listed students who owed T.L.O. money, and even two letters
seeming to show that T.L.O. was dealing marijuana.
Choplick reported what he found to the police, giving what he found in the purse to them
as evidence.
T.L.O. later voluntarily confessed to police that she had been selling marijuana at the
high school.
Based on the confession and seized evidence, the state of New Jersey charged T.L.O. with
possession of marijuana in the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court of Middlesex County.
However, her lawyer argued the evidence from the purse shouldn’t be allowed in court,
as it was obtained illegally since this went against the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
That’s a law known as the “exclusionary rule,” by the way.
The Court allowed the evidence to be used anyway, and found her guilty, sentencing her
to probation for one year.
She was also fined $1,000 and expelled from school.
But T.L.O. appealed to the Superior Court of New Jersey.
But it agreed with the lower court, saying the exclusionary rule did not apply to school
officials and they could certainly search a student’s personal property.
So T.L.O. appealed again, this time to the New Jersey Supreme Court, who reversed the
lower decision and sided with T.L.O.
It argued the Fourth Amendment does apply to searches and seizures made by school officials
in public schools.
So this time New Jersey appealed, and the Supreme Court agreed to hear oral arguments
on March 28, 1984, and then again on October 2, 1984.
The big question was “does the exclusionary rule apply to searches conducted by school
officials in public schools?”
The Court said yes.
Why yes it does.
But they sided with New Jersey.
It was 6-3.
Yep.
So The Court held that public school officials may conduct searches without a warrant as
long as there is a “reasonable suspicion.”
According to legal standards, a reasonable suspicion is less than probable cause, but
it is still more than a hunch.
It has to be based on specific facts.
In the case of T.L.O., her having cigarettes was relevant to whether or not she was telling
the truth, and Mr. Choplick had a reasonable suspicion to think cigarettes were in her
purse since the teacher took her straight to his office.
In addition, after Mr. Choplick opened the purse, the other stuff was in plain view.
Plain view is a well understood exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment.
So Mr. Choplick was not going against the Fourth Amendment, and that evidence could
be used in court.
In his dissent, Justice William Brennan argued that Mr. Choplick’s did go too far.
“When he opened the purse, he discovered the pack of cigarettes.
At this point, his search for evidence of the smoking violation was complete.”
Brennan said continuing to rummage through T.L.O. 's purse was a violation of her privacy.
Regardless, New Jersey v. T.L.O. is the case that makes it clear that, as long as there is a reasonable
suspicion, the principal can search your backpack at school, kid.
So don’t get any ideas, you hear?
I’ll see you for the next Supreme Court case, jury!
What do YOU think?
Do you agree with the Court in this case?
Let me know in the comments below.
Also, which Supreme Court case should I cover next?
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