Reevaluating the Fourth Amendment in Modern Schools: The Search of Students' Electronic Devices by School Authorities
Imagine that you, a high school student in any state of the country, are just sitting in class and minding your business, casually scrolling your phone when your principal and teachers demand you hand over your phone while unlocked. In any of the fifty states, any figure of authority will usually need a search warrant signed by a judge to search you without your consent (this, however, does not apply if you are placed under arrest). In most cases, a separate warrant is needed to search your devices. However, it is granted that schools and figures of authority within the school have the right to search the property of any student based on something called 'reasonable suspicion.' This varies greatly from the term 'probable cause.' For the police to search you without your consent, they need probable cause, as in actual visible facts with concrete evidence that a crime has been committed as defined in the Fourth Amendment. Reasonable suspicion, however, is less about actua...