Disgusting

I've been reading, with avid interest, the articles discussing the upcoming arguments in Stafford vs April Redding to the Supreme Court.

Reading the articles surrounding the case have actually made me incredibly grateful that I am not trying to raise a child, especially a female child, in today's society. Savana Redding (now 19) was 13 years old when school officials decided to strip search her, based on a classmate's tip that she had a contraband drug on her person.

Read again. School officials strip searched a 13 year old girl. Without first calling her mother. Without having anyone advocate for her.

She voluntarily consented? She is thirteen years old, with school officials breathing down her neck, with no idea that officials were going to request that she shake out her bra and jiggle her underwear. The imbalance of power makes consent impossible in this case. The imbalance of power alone makes consent difficult to accept.

The drug in question was a prescription strength dosage (400mg) of Ibuprofen.

If Slate's summary of the proceedings is an indication, it is going to get a hell of a lot more difficult for parents to send their children to school. The two page summary was infuriating to say the least and left me with the distinct impression that the majority of the Supreme Court justices regressed to the age of 13 year old boys, sniggering in the locker room.

In other words, they don't think strip searching a thirteen year old is a big deal, if it keeps the drugs away.