Case Brief Form

Heading:

NEW JERSEY v. T.L.O.

Supreme Court of the United States, 1985

U.S. Supreme Court:

Appellants Name: NEW JERSEY

Appellees Name: T.L.O.

Defendant

Plaintiff

Citation: 469 U.S. 325

Procedural History (how did the case get here, from where, and why):
Juvenile Court:

Plaintiffs Name: T.L.O

Defendants Name: NEW JERSEY

New Jersey Supreme Court:

Appellants Name: T.L.O.

Appellees Name: NEW JERSEY

U.S. Supreme Court:

Appellants Name: NEW JERSEY

Appellees Name: T.L.O.

- Juvenile court dismissed T.L.O.s motion, and found student guilty.

- T.L.O. appealed to New Jersey Supreme Court. The court reversed the decision and T.L.O. won the appeal.
- State of New Jersey appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. The court reversed the decision 6-3 and the State of New
Jersey won the appeal.

Facts (who are the parties and what is the dispute):

T.L.O was a high school student who was caught smoking with another student in a lavatory. A violation of the schools code of
conduct policy. The teacher took the two girls to the principals office, where the met Vice Principal Theodore Choplick. When
questioned, the girls admitted they violated the rule. T.L.O. denied that she had been smoking in the lavatory and claimed that she did
not smoke at all.
Mr. Choplick demanded that T.L.O. come into his private office and demanded to see her purse. Inside the purse he found cigarettes.
In addition there were; rolling papers, small amount of marijuana, a pipe, empty bags, a substantial amount of money in one dollar
bills, an index card of student names who owed T.L.O. money, and two letters that indicated that T.L.O. was a marijuana dealer.
Mr. Choplick notified T.L.O.s mother and police. Evidence of the drug dealing was turned over to the police. At the request of the
police T.L.O.s mother took her in for questioning. T.L.O. confessed to selling marijuana at school. On the basis of the confession and
the evidence from Mr. Choplicks investigation the State brought delinquency charges against T.L.O. in juvenile court.
T.L.O. moved to suppress the evidence found in her purse as well as her confession, which, she argued, was tainted by the allegedly
unlawful search. (4th amendment)

Question(s) Presented (what is the dispute and which points of law apply):
Does the exclusionary rule apply to searches conducted by school officials in public schools?

Holding (what rule applies to resolve the matter and why):

In 1985, the Supreme Court, by a 6-3 margin, ruled that New Jersey and the school had met a "reasonableness" standard
for conducting such searches at school. The high court said school administrators don't need to have a search warrant or
probable cause before conducting a search because students have a reduced expectation of privacy when in school.