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Saturday, April 25, 2009

Ind. Courts - "Hamilton Co. lawyers offer brief in U.S. strip-search case"

Updating this ILB entry from April 18th, on the oral argument before the SCOTUS in the case of Safford Unified School District, et al., v. Redding which took place April 21st, on April 23rd Chris Sikich of the Indianapolis Star had this story:

Two Hamilton County school district attorneys participated this week in a U.S. Supreme Court case about the legality of strip-searching students.

The court is weighing the appropriateness of a strip-search of a 13-year-old girl accused of having prescription-strength ibuprofen versus the need for school officials to look for drugs and weapons on campus, according to The Associated Press. Savana Redding was 13 when Safford, Ariz., Middle School officials ordered her to remove her clothes and shake out her underwear looking for pills, the AP reported.

David Day, attorney for Fishers-based Hamilton Southeastern Schools, and Seamus Boyce, attorney for Carmel Clay Schools, submitted a brief in the case and traveled to Washington, D.C., on behalf the National Association of School Boards.

Neither school district has had issues with strip-searches, said Doug Church, senior partner in a Noblesville law firm with Boyce and Day.

The two lawyers in the Church, Church, Hittle and Antrim law firm essentially asked the court to give school officials clear guidance on strip-searches, Church said. The hearing was Tuesday.

"A number of the questions and comments made during oral argument made it clear to us that they had read our brief and were engaged in our arguments," Church said.

Church, who also traveled to Washington, said it's the first time in the 129-year history of his firm that members provided a brief on a case before the Supreme Court.

"We were picked because of our fairly extensive and long-term representation of school corporations," Church said. "The key to the case is ultimately defining the extent to which school administrators can permissibly go in searching a student, including strip searches, when there is a reasonable suspicion that the student may have contraband on their person."

Here, from SCOTUSBlog WIKI, is a page containing links to the documents in the Safford case, including the Amicus Brief: "Brief for the National School Boards Association, and the American Association of School Administrators in Support of Petitioner ." Access it here.

And here is an analysis, by SCOTUSBlog's Lyle Denniston, of the oral argument.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on April 25, 2009 01:43 PM
Posted to Indiana Courts