A middle-school student had a Fourth Amendment right to privacy when she was subjected to a search of her bra and underpants by school officials who were acting on reasonable suspicion that the student brought forbidden prescription and over-the-counter drugs to school. There was no reason to suspect that the over-the-counter and prescription drugs presented a danger or were concealed in the student's underwear. Despite the school personnel's report that they did not see anything during the search, a strip search and its Fourth Amendment consequences are not defined by who was looking or how much may or may not have been seen.

Safford Unified School District #1 et al. v. Redding No. 08-479