U.S. Supreme Court: Molesting Children OK?

I thought there was no new prohibition-related insanity that could still surprise, let alone shock, me. I was wrong. It looks like it is now acceptable to molest a 13-year-old girl in the name of the war on drugs.

On October 3, 2003 a 13-year-old honor student at an Arizona school was accused by a friend of giving her Ibuprofen, an over-the-counter aspirin substitute. Apparently, that is a banned drug. When a search of her locker, backpack, and clothes failed to turn up any of the drug, the student was stripped to her underwear then forced to remove even that to satisfy school officials. This was without her parents’ permission. And the girl had never been in any trouble before. All over an aspirin. Were they afraid that some child would experience unauthorized headache relief?

My first response to this, after recovering from being shocked and stunned, is why would such a case end up in an appeals court, let alone the U.S. Supreme Court? This is a criminal matter. Upon hearing from their child what had happened, the girl’s parents should have immediately contacted the police and had everyone involved arrested. Surely there must be some laws in Arizona against molesting little girls. And as far as I’m concerned, when an adult forces a 13-year-old girl to remove her clothes without the presence, or even permission, of her parents, it is sexual assault. Period.

In what universe would there even be a discussion of whether or not such an act is acceptable? I mean, what could these people possibly say on a witness stand to justify such behavior? We were looking for an aspirin? I’m sure all pedophiles have similar excuses. These people are child molesters, plain and simple. They belong behind bars and their names added to the national and local registries of convicted pedophiles. They are a danger to children, and should not be allowed anywhere near a school ever again.

What shocks me almost as much as what happened to this little girl is the fact that this case is now before the U.S. Supreme Court. I guess these people really want to prove to the world that they are not perverts and what they did is perfectly alright. Just to show you what kind of a world we live in, the Court may actually find in favor of these child molesters. After hearing arguments, comments made by our esteemed Supreme Court justices suggest they are leaning toward overturning the lower court’s decision. Believe it or not, they might just decide this sort of behavior is OK. For example, Justice Stephen Breyer didn’t seem to understand how a strip search could harm a child. Justice Breyer was reported as saying, “why is this a major thing to say strip down to your underclothes, which children do when they change for gym?” But wait, there’s more. Justice Breyer went on, “In my experience when I was 8 or 10 or 12 years old, you know, we did take our clothes off once a day. We changed for gym, OK? And in my experience, too, people did sometimes stick things in my underwear. Or not my underwear. ... I mean, I don't think it's beyond human experience.” And then there’s Justice David Souter who said he “would rather have the kid embarrassed by a strip search ... than have some other kids dead because the stuff is distributed at lunchtime and things go awry.” Dead? Really? From an aspirin? Now maybe if it were a bomb or a gun, OK. But I don’t think a strip search would be required to find a deadly weapon. Unless it was really, really small.

There’s more, but I think you get the point. And don’t forget, we’re talking about an aspirin here, not a bomb or even a particularly dangerous drug. If this situation doesn’t fall under the 4th Amendment, which guarantees that “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated...”, then I’d like to know what does. Surely forcing a little girl to take off her clothes to find a suspected aspirin is unreasonable under any and all circumstances. My only remaining question: What have these people, in particular our esteemed Supreme Court justices, been smoking and where can I get some?