View source for New Jersey v. T. L. O.

{{Infobox SCOTUS case
| Litigants=New Jersey v. T. L. O.
| ArgueDate=March 28
| ArgueYear=1984
| ReargueDate=October 2
| ReargueYear=1984
| DecideDate=January 15
| DecideYear=1985
| FullName=New Jersey v. T.L.O.
| ParallelCitations=105 S. Ct. 733; 83 [[L. Ed. 2d]] 720; 1985 [[U.S. LEXIS]] 41; 53 U.S.L.W. 4083
| USVol=469
| USPage=325
| OralArgument=https://apps.oyez.org/player/#/burger8/oral_argument_audio/18116
| OralReargument=https://apps.oyez.org/player/#/burger8/oral_argument_audio/23720
| Prior=Defendant convicted sub. nom. ''State ex rel. T. L. O.'' 178 [[New Jersey Superior Court|N.J. Super.]] 329, 428 [[A.2d]] 1327 (Middlesex County Ct., 1980); Affirmed, 185 N.J. Super. 279, 448 A.2d 493 ([[New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division|App. Div.]], 1982); conviction reversed 94 [[New Jersey Supreme Court|N.J.]] 331, 463 A.2d 934 (1983); [[Certiorari|cert]]. granted, {{ussc|464|991|1983|el=no}}.
| Subsequent=
| Holding=The Fourth Amendment prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures only partially applies to searches conducted by public school officials (administrators), and the search of student's purse was reasonable.
| Majority=White
| JoinMajority=Burger, Powell, Rehnquist, O'Connor
| Concurrence=Powell
| JoinConcurrence=O'Connor
| Concurrence2=Blackmun
| Concurrence/Dissent=Brennan
| JoinConcurrence/Dissent=Marshall
| Concurrence/Dissent2=Stevens
| JoinConcurrence/Dissent2=Marshall; Brennan (Part I)
| LawsApplied=[[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|U.S. Const. amend IV]]
}}
'''''New Jersey v. T.L.O.''''', 469 U.S. 325 (1985), is a [[List of landmark court decisions in the United States|landmark decision]] of the [[Supreme Court of the United States]] which established the standards by which a public school official can search a student in a school environment, and to what extent.

The case centered around a student at [[Piscataway High School]] in [[Piscataway, New Jersey]], known then only by her initials ''T.L.O.'', who was searched for [[contraband]] after she was caught smoking in a school bathroom. She was sent to the principal's office, where the vice principal searched her purse and found [[Cannabis (drug)|marijuana]], [[drug paraphernalia]], and documentation of drug sales. She was expelled from the school and charged by police for the paraphernalia found in the search, but she fought the charge on the basis that the search of her purse violated the [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]]'s prohibition against unreasonable [[search and seizure]].<ref>''New Jersey v. T.L.O.'', {{Ussc|volume=469|page=325|year=1985}}.</ref>

The [[New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division|New Jersey Superior Court]] affirmed the constitutionality of the search, but the [[Supreme Court of New Jersey]] reversed, holding that the search of her purse was unreasonable. On appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Court held that the Fourth Amendment applies to searches conducted by school officials in a school setting. However, school officials do not need to have [[probable cause]] nor obtain a [[Search warrant|warrant]] before searching a student. Instead, in order for a search to be justified, school officials must have [[reasonable suspicion]] that the student has violated either the law or school rules. Justice [[Byron White]] wrote for the six-justice majority that the school's search of T.L.O.'s purse was constitutional, setting a new precedent for school searches and student privacy.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Greenhouse |first=Linda |date=January 16, 1985 |title=High Court Eases Search Strictures in Public Schools |pages=1 |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1985/01/16/us/high-court-eases-search-strictures-in-public-schools.html |access-date=December 11, 2022}}</ref>

==Background==
On March 7, 1980, a teacher at [[Piscataway High School]] in [[Piscataway, New Jersey]] discovered two 14-year-old freshmen smoking in a school bathroom, in violation of school rules. The pair were sent to principal's office, where they were questioned by Vice Principal Theodore Choplick.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Zane |first=Dale Edward |date=January 1987 |title=School Searches Under the Fourth Amendment New Jersey v. T.L.O. |journal=[[Cornell Law Review]] |volume=72 |issue=2 |pages=368–396}}</ref> One of the students admitted to smoking, but the other student, whose initials were ''T.L.O.'', denied having ever smoked in her life. Choplick brought T.L.O. into his private office and demanded to see T.L.O.'s purse, and upon searching it, found a pack of cigarettes and [[rolling paper]] in [[Plain view doctrine|plain view]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Griffith |first=Frederick |date=1988 |title=New Jersey v. T.L.O. and Its Progeny: The Bill of Rights at School |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/tmclr5&i=625 |journal=Cooley Law Review |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=617–648 |via=[[HeinOnline]]}}</ref> Choplick then conducted a more thorough search of T.L.O.'s purse, revealing a small amount of [[Cannabis (drug)|marijuana]], a [[tobacco pipe]], an index card with the names of students who owed T.L.O. money, and letters linking T.L.O. to marijuana dealing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Walls |first=David Alden |date=1986 |title=New Jersey v. T.L.O.: The Fourth Amendment Applied to School Searches |url=https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/okcu11&i=233 |journal=Oklahoma City University Law Review |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=225–242 |via=[[HeinOnline]]}}</ref> The principal then called the police and the girl's mother, who voluntarily drove her to the police station. She was convicted of dealing and use of illicit drugs. She was expelled from the school and fined $1,000. She was charged as a [[Minor (law)|juvenile]] for the drugs and [[paraphernalia]] found in the search.

==Court decision==
The [[Supreme Court of the United States]], in a 6–3 decision issued by Justice White, balancing between the legitimate [[expectation of privacy]] of the individual, even a child, and the school's interest in maintaining order and discipline, held for the appellant (the state). According to school officials, they do require a "[[reasonable suspicion]]" to perform a search.

Her possession of any cigarettes was relevant to whether or not she was being truthful, and since she had been caught in the bathroom and taken directly to the office, it was reasonable to assume she had the cigarettes in her purse. Thus, the vice-principal had reasonable cause to suspect a school rule had been broken, and more than just a "hunch" to search the purse. When the vice-principal was searching for the cigarettes, the drug-related evidence was in plain view. Plain view is an exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. Thus, the reasonable search for cigarettes led to some of the drug related material being discovered, which justified a search (including the zippered compartments inside the bag) resulting in the discovery of the cigarettes and other evidence including a small bag of marijuana and cigarette rolling papers. 

== Other opinions ==
In a separate concurring opinion, [[Justice Powell]] (joined by [[Sandra Day O'Connor|Justice O'Connor]]) stated that while he agreed with the Court's opinion, he felt that students in primary and secondary educational settings should not be afforded the same level of protection for search and seizures as adults and juveniles in non-school settings.<ref>''T. L. O.'', 469 U.S. at 348-50 (Powell, J., concurring).</ref>

[[William J. Brennan, Jr.|Justice Brennan]], joined by [[Thurgood Marshall|Justice Marshall]], agreed with the majority's conclusions about the applicability of the Fourth Amendment to school teachers but dissented from the new standard set down by the Court, which he felt was a departure from the traditional "[[probable cause]]" approach. 

{{Quote
|text=Today's decision sanctions school officials to conduct full scale searches on a 'reasonableness' standard whose only definite content is that it is not the same test as the 'probable cause' standard found in the text of the Fourth Amendment. In adopting this unclear, unprecedented, and unnecessary departure from generally Fourth Amendment standards, the Court carves out a broad exception to standards that this Court has developed over years of considering Fourth Amendment problems. Its decision is supported neither by precedent nor even by a fair application of the 'Balancing test of power' it proclaims in this very opinion.<ref>''T. L. O.'', 469 U.S. at 354 (Brennan, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part).</ref>
}}

Brennan went on to argue that for the government to justify a [[Warrantless searches in the United States|warrantless search]], some "special governmental interest" outside of standard law enforcement interests was required. This idea was later adopted by the Court as the [[special needs doctrine]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Arcila |first1=Fabio |date=2004 |title=Special Needs and Special Deference: Suspicionless Civil Searches in the Modern Regulatory State |url=https://digitalcommons.tourolaw.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1239&context=scholarlyworks |journal=Administrative Law Review |volume=56 |pages= 1228 |access-date=17 November 2020 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 469]]
* ''[[Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton]],'' 515 U.S. 649 (1995)
* ''[[Board of Education v. Earls]],'' 536 U.S. 822 (2002)
* ''[[Safford Unified School District v. Redding]],'' 557 U.S. 364 (2009)
* [[Special needs exception]]
* ''[[Terry v. Ohio]], 392 U.S. 1 (1968)''
*''[[Cohen v. California]], 403 U.S. 15 (1971)''

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{caselaw source
 | case=''New Jersey v. T. L. O.'', {{ussc|469|325|1985|el=no}}
 | courtlistener =https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/111301/new-jersey-v-tlo/
 | findlaw=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/469/325.html
 | googlescholar = https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=4170966027434691269
 | justia=https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/469/325/
 | loc =http://cdn.loc.gov/service/ll/usrep/usrep469/usrep469325/usrep469325.pdf
 | oyez =https://www.oyez.org/cases/1983/83-712
 | other_source1 = California State University, Stanislaus
 | other_url1 =https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/CJ/JJustice/CaseFiles/NEW%20JERSEY-v-TLO.pdf
}}
* [https://www.landmarkcases.org/cases/new-jersey-v-tlo Summary on LandmarkCases.org]

{{StudentsConstitutionalRights}}
{{US4thAmendment|warrantexceptions}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:New Jersey v. T. L. O.}}
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases]]
[[Category:United States Supreme Court cases of the Burger Court]]
[[Category:United States Fourth Amendment case law]]
[[Category:Student rights case law in the United States]]
[[Category:United States controlled substances case law]]
[[Category:1985 in United States case law]]
[[Category:1985 in education]]
[[Category:Piscataway, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Cannabis in New Jersey]]
[[Category:Education in Middlesex County, New Jersey]]
[[Category:Smoking in the United States]]