New Jersey v. T. L. O. (469 U.S. 325)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 15, 1985 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 469 U.S. 325 · 105 S. Ct. 733
- Decided
- January 15, 1985
- Term
- October Term 1984
- Vote
- 6–3
- Majority author
- Justice White
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Reversed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice White delivered the opinion of the Court. We granted certiorari in this case to examine the appropriateness of the exclusionary rule as a remedy for searches carried out in violation of the Fourth Amendment by public school authorities. Our consideration of the proper application of the Fourth Amendment to the public schools, however, has led us to conclude that the search that gave rise to the case now before us did not violate the Fourth Amendment. Accordingly, we here address only the questions of the proper standard for assessing the legality of searches conducted by public school officials and the application of that standard to the facts of this case. I On March 7, 1980, a teacher at Piscataway High School in Middlesex County, N. J., discovered two girls smoking in a lavatory. One of the two girls was the respondent T. L. 0., who at that time was a 14-year-old high school freshman. Because smoking in the lavatory was a violation of a school rule, the teacher took the two girls to the Principal’s office, where they met with Assistant Vice Principal Theodore Choplick. In response to questioning by Mr. Choplick, T. L. O.’s companion admitted that she had violated the rule. T. L. 0., however, denied that she had been smoking in the lavatory and claimed that she did not smoke at all. Mr. Choplick asked T. L. O. to come into his private office and demanded to see her…
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