New Jersey V. T.L.O.

New Jersey V. T.L.O ruled in favor of T.L.O. This case revolves around a high school freshman that was caught smoking in the bathroom, and upon being caught, was asked to see her bag. The argument of the defendant

here was that T.L.O's purse had been illegally searched, therefore infringing upon her fourth amendment rights. The defense kept up with this argument, stating that the search was unnecessary from the first place because T.L.O had already been caught smoking by a teacher and that was enough to get her into trouble. The fact that they found cigarettes but not the cigarette she used to smoke in the bathroom was also an argument they used. Without that particular cigarette, she can't be found guilty of smoking. They also argued that students did not give up their rights at school and that the rights did not chance context from person to person, and the fact that the vice principal was not a police officer and did not have a warrant violated the fourth amendment.

The defense argued that although her bag was searched, T.L.O did not protest against it and handed the bag over willingly when asked. She didn't attempt to stop the vice principal. They also argued that if the bag had not been taken and searched, she would have continued smoking, and that could have caused harm on other students' health because anyone could have walked into the bathroom she was smoking in. Another point they brought up was that T.L.O initially lied not only about smoking in the bathroom, but being a smoker. The cigarettes and rolling paper proved that she was indeed a smoker and not only that, but was also selling marijuana on campus. She was participating in an illegal activity not only in the eyes of the school but the law.