Sunday Cuppa | Christy Hardin Smith

The ACLU blog hits a recent case for which cert was accepted by SCOTUS. It has some wide-ranging implications on privacy, "no tolerance" policies and schools, morality, and even plain old common sense.

To wit:

The fact that no ibuprofen pills were uncovered seems almost beside the point. As the majority opinion in the case from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals proclaimed, "It does not require a constitutional scholar to conclude that a nude search of a 13-year-old child is an invasion of constitutional rights. More than that, it is a violation of any known principle of human dignity." Or, to put it less eloquently: You can’t strip search an adolescent student just because a classmate said she gave them Advil.

Or can you? The Supreme Court will soon weigh in, reviewing the 9th Circuit’s ruling in Redding’s favor, and opening up the possibility that strip searches could soon become a much more frequent occurrence in America’s classrooms. Arguments in the case is set for April 21.

The NYTimes has more. Anyone want to lay odds on how Alito will likely vote? Thoughts?

John Anderson | Sunday March 29, 2009 06:03 am 1

Morning, Christy!
My Sunday Cuppa might just be the best cuppa I ever to put to mouth. Also ridiculously expensive. With the car in the shop all morning yesterday, I wandered around Tarrytown, stopping in at my favorite java bar, Coffee Labs. They roast their own at Coffee Labs, to a very light roast. Anyhow, they had half pound bags of two separate El Salvadoran coffees. After a marvelous, thick, creamy latte, I thought, well, sure, why not, and picked-up a half pound of each in the whole beans to take home. $12 . . . the half pound. Ayyyyyyy! Too embarrassed to admit that I was an idiot, I paid the dough and took my precious beans home.
This morning, just now, I made a pot.
Beautiful coffee. What a difference from Starbucks . . . or just about anyone else’s coffees.
Why must restaurants–even the best restaurants, even in New York–serve such awful coffee?
As for Sam Alito, I shudder. Worse even than Smiler Roberts.

pdaly | Sunday March 29, 2009 06:31 am 2

Alito’s “reasoning” about what the warrant signing judge must have been thinking, and Alito’s cavalier attitude about overlooking the police officers’ violating the search warrant remind me of Yoo’s OLC memos.

Makes me wonder what attracted Alito (and Yoo) to study law–certainly not for the love of the current law.

If I recall correctly during Alito’s confirmation hearings, Americans were warned better to confirm Alito because who knows if Bush will nominate someone worse if Alito’s nomination fails.

OT: Paul Krugman is on abc’s This Week right now (with George Will). Should be fun.

demi | Sunday March 29, 2009 06:33 am 3

Oh my good gracious, what an outrage. And, this case has been going on for 6 years. That’s a long time to stand up for your rights. What a brave girl and mother to fight a big bad school district. What are the chances that the Supreme Court slaps them where it hurts? This is just the thing to get my blood pressure up at 6 something on a Sunday morning.
I’m going to be following this story, for sure. Thank God for the ACLU. Right on, MFr’s!

Millineryman | Sunday March 29, 2009 06:42 am 4

ugh.

Waccamaw | Sunday March 29, 2009 03:37 pm 5

Christy -

That has to be one of the most beautiful photos you’ve ever selected. Thank you!

tejanarusa | Sunday March 29, 2009 06:01 pm 6

Well, that’s just appalling.

I wish it were surprising. Sometimes I think we select education bureaucrats for their lack of common sense.

Strip searched for ADVIL – and the school district asserts that it’s reasonable because of the battle against drug use! Oh, and my fave (2) the distrcit argues it had “good reason” to suspect the 13 yr old because she had been “rowdy” at a dance and somebody “thought” they smelled alcohol on her. And 2nd, the girl’s assertion of her good discipline record doesn’t mean she never broke any rules, only that she “didn’t get caught.”

What is wrong with these people???????
This whole zero tolerance of students regarding advil, motrin, midol, etc. – OTC drugs for keerist’s sake!!- needs to be rethought and abandoned.
Ruining a kid’s life because she gave another kid an advil for a headache is horrible enough–but in this case the poor kid didn’t even have any advil.
Unbelievable.

Oh, and Christy – aren’t you supposed to be taking a break? I appreciate learning about this horror, but I hope it doesn’t mean your break only lasted 4 hours or something.