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,