Lawsuit Over School's Strip Search Goes to Supreme Court

By Evan Mix

Published on January 22, 2009

The United States Supreme Court has decided it will hear a lawsuit stemming from an incident in which school officials subjected a middle school girl to a strip search after another student reported that the girl was in possession of prescription-strength ibuprofen.

The Court will decide whether the 13-year-old girl's civil rights were violated, and if so, whether the school principal who ordered the search can be held financially responsible. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled in favor of the student on both counts.

Savana Redding was in the eighth grade at Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona when the incident occurred. She was ordered to visit the school nurse, told to strip to her underwear, and forced to expose her breasts and pelvic area. No pills were found, and the girl's mother filed a civil rights lawsuit on her behalf.

The school has argued that officials were justifiably concerned because pills had been found on campus, and because another student had been hospitalized after taking a prescription medication given to him by one of his classmates. The 9th Circuit disagreed, calling the search "grossly intrusive."

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