Civil Liberties Test

There are different ways that someone, such as a policeman, can search you. There is probable cause, reasonable suspicion, or plain view. Those pretty much stay the same both in a school setting and outside of school. In the New Jersey v. T.L.O. case, the girl was accused of smoking in the bathroom, and then had her bag searched. Then after they started searching her bag, they found other drugs, which is reasonable suspicion, and then led to further searching. They then found a bag of marijuana and other drugs. The presence of the rolling papers gave suspicion to the principal’s mind, justifying the search. It did not violate the 4th amendment, which states that evidence obtained illegally cannot be used against you. Another example is the Mapp v. Ohio court case. There was an illegal police search of her home in search of a fugitive. The police found obscene materials after the search of her home. That was a violation of the Constitution, because there was no warrant on that search. So all evidence obtained by the search in violation of the Constitution us inadmissible in state court. The 5th amendment protects you from self incrimination, and a good court case example of that is the Miranda v. Arizona case. Miranda was arrested and confessed, but then recanted. The defendant was not given warnings of the rights before the interrogation. This did violate the 5th amendment when the rights were not read, like the right to remain silent and right to have counsel present during the interrogations. The 4th amendment can also be seen in the Veronia School District 47 v. Acton court case. The reasonable search and seizure clause of the 4th amendment was not violated in this case. The student refused to participate in the random drug testing, so therefore, he was denied participation on the football team when he and his parents refused to consent. Under the state supervision during school hours, he is subject to greater control over the free adults. It does not violate privacy like originally thought so. The first amendment has 5 components to it, which are freedom of speech, press, religion, petition, and assembly. In the Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier case, the principal received proofs of a school newspaper, and found 2 articles inappropriate and ordered they be withheld from publication. The students took this case to court because they thought they were being stripped of their rights under the first amendment. The educators did not offend the first amendment. The educators have control over student speech. They have the right to deny anything that might interfere with the learning environment. So the principal had the right to deny the 2 articles, and the students did not get their way.