The Fourth Amendment guarantees "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures". The constitution specifies that the government must have probable cause and obtain a warrant before it can conduct a search on a citizen.
However, the Supreme Court has ruled that the Fourth Amendment applies differently to students in public schools than normal citizens. In a 1985 case called New Jersey v. T.L.O., the Supreme Court wrote:.
It is evident that the school setting requires some easing of the restrictions to which searches by public authorities are ordinarily subject. The warrant requirement, in particular, is unsuited to the school environment: requiring a teacher to obtain a warrant before searching a child suspected of an infraction of school rules (or of the criminal law) would unduly interfere with the maintenance of the swift and informal disciplinary procedures needed in the schools. nor does [the right to privacy for students] require strict requirement that searches be based on probable cause Rather, the legality of a search of a student should depend simply on the reasonableness, under all the circumstances, of the search.
This interpretation of the Fourth Amendment basically amounts to a 'junior version' of the Fourth Amendment for students in public schools. Instead of probable cause and a warrant-which are typically required for a search-a school only needs reasonable suspicion, a much weaker standard, to search a student. In this landmark case, the Court explained that it was trying once again to balance the constitutional rights of students against the school's right to enforce discipline and promote order. In New Jersey v. T.L.O., the Court found that balance significantly further on the side of school discipline than it did in previous cases, notably Tinker (see 'Freedom of Expression', above). This restriction of the Fourth Amendment rights of students has affected many areas of student privacy.
