Rachel Cheeseman reports:
The Oregon State Supreme Court ruled that warrantless searches of students in public schools by officials need only “reasonable suspicion” rather than “probable cause,” making it easier for school officials to search property of students.
The opinion of the Court, released June 10, stated that the Article I Section 9 rights of the Rex Putnam High School student had not been violated when David Pogel, a teacher at Rex Putnam, reached into the student’s pocket and removed the contraband inside.
Read more on Oregon Politico.
Comment: This is really a terrible decision in terms of basically giving students less privacy protection and schools more authority to conduct warrantless searches. It also opens the door to many more such searches and expansion of schools’ ability to search students for violations of school rules that have nothing to do with imminent danger or safety issues.
Maybe when they teach the Constitution in Oregon, they could save valuable time and just skip the Fourth Amendment because the students don’t get its protection?