Clarence Thomas Scoots Right -- Again

Posted by Matthew Rothschild, The Progressive at 7:30 AM on June 27, 2009.

Finally, the Supreme Court has made a good decision on civil liberties.

The justices ruled when she was 13, Savana Redding had her rights violated when school officials insisted that she be strip-searched for the possession of—hold on here!—ibuprofen.

She had to strip to her underwear, then pull her bra and panties out and expose her privates. School officials found no drugs.

Savana called it “the most humiliating experience I’ve ever had.”

Ruling 8-1, the Justices concluded that Safford Middle School went too far.

That’s a welcome departure for the court, which has steadily increased the authority of school districts to intrude on the rights of students, with random drug testing of athletes and anyone in extracurricular activities. The court also has invited excessive monitoring of school newspapers.

For once, the court, almost unanimously, made a course correction.

The only dissenter was Clarence Thomas, who after sleepwalking through 18 years on the court, has finally settled on a role for himself other than that of Scalia’s second vote. And that is, to be even further to the right of Scalia. Earlier this week, Thomas was the sole member of the court who wanted to overturn the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

In the Redding case, Thomas defended the school, saying that “preservation of order, discipline, and safety in public schools is simply not the domain of the Constitution.”

He, evidently, would have students lose all their rights when they walk through the school doors.

I’d hate for my kid to have him as a principal.

And I hate for my country to have him as a Justice.

Tagged as: supreme court, court, clarence thomas, savana redding, strip search

Matthew Rothschild is the editor of The Progressive.