School's strip-search violated teen's rights: US high court

School officials in Arizona violated the rights of a 13-year-old girl when they ordered her strip-search and looked for extra-strength pain medication in her underwear, the US Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

"Savana Redding leaves the U.S. Supreme Court after her case was heard on in April 2009 in Washington, DC. School officials in Arizona violated the rights of Redding then 13-years-old, when they ordered her strip-search and looked for extra-strength pain medication in her underwear, the US Supreme Court ruled Thursday."

In a closely-watched case, the US high court ruled 8 to 1 that the strip-search by the Safford, Arizona middle school violated the girl's Fourth Amendment constitutional right against "unreasonable searches."

"Because there was no reason to suspect the drugs presented a danger or were concealed in her underwear, we hold that the search did violate the constitution," the high court opinion read.

Nevertheless, the Supreme Court said the plaintiff could not sue for damages, because at the time the illegality of the strip-search had not been established.

"There is reason to question the clarity with which the right was established," the court opinion read.

"The official who ordered the unconstitutional search is entitled to qualified immunity from liability."

The 2003 case involved nineteen-year-old plaintiff Savana Redding, then 13, who was made to undress in a school office by female staff after officials came to suspect that she had hidden a pill containing ibuprofen -- a commonly used pain reliever and anti-inflammation drug -- in her panties or brassiere.

The school found nothing, and the girl's mother sued the school district for subjecting the teenager to an "unreasonable search."

A local magistrate ruled for the school district and threw out the lawsuit, but the US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals later reversed the ruling, finding in a narrow 6-5 decision that the strip-search of an eighth-grader was unconstitutional -- a finding upheld by the US high court on Thursday.