Here it is. Found via Slashdot. I’m simply dumbstruck.
13 years old. Strip-searched. Ibu-friggin’-profen.
I don’t care that they have a zero-tolerance drug policy at the school, if all you suspect (incorrectly, as it turned out…) is ibuprofen, how is a strip-search, by any conceivable stretch of the imagination, warranted?
(The story itself is not new; the actual news is that it will be heard by the Supreme Court. The incident itself took place 6 years ago, and the girl in question is now 19. But hell, it’s the first I’d heard of it…)
I have been watching for the result of this case ever since I saw your comments on it. Today I suppose there is cause for celebration, so here goes, yippee. Sorry that’s all I can muster.
Yes I think the decision was correct. But I can’t figure out why It takes the supreme court to to decide such a basic moral question. Anyone with any decency can see the only possibly choice.
But, the real problem is the opinions written by the judges avoided setting any meaningful precedent. Is even the supreme court afraid of setting boundaries for the school board? It seems that they are not only an arm of law enforcement, but a part of the judiciary branch of government.
A real shock for me was Clearance Thomas’ statement, “Judges are not qualified to second-guess the best manner for maintaining quiet and order in the school environment,” Is he for real? I guess if it were left up to Thomas, not even the supreme court would have authority over school officials. What hope do parents have.
Ruthe Bader Ginsburg wasn’t much better. Apparently she tried to convince her colleagues that the victims sex had some relevance to the case, said to reporters, “It’s a very sensitive age for a girl. I didn’t think that my colleagues, some of them, quite understood.” “They have never been a 13-year-old girl,” This leads me to believe that she may not have taken the case as seriously if the victim had been a boy, and of course wonder how she could known what it’s like to be a thirteen year old boy.
It sets a dangerous precedent when the highest court in the land not only fails to make rulings that protect basic human rights, but also fails to protect our children from possible harm. If the courts will not take action eventually the people will and our country will fail.