Katz V. United States Summary

The exclusionary rule became very specific as to what was excluded and what wasn’t overtime due to certain cases. In Katz v. United States, 1967 abstract items were protected from unreasonable searches and seizures and found objects like waste and garbage are not applied in the fourth amendment (California v. Greenwood, 1988) The biggest concern after this was whether or not this clause also apply to students.
Two students in Middlesex County,New Jersey were at their high school and were caught smoking in the restroom by a teacher. T.L.O. (Tracy Lois Odem) and the other student were taken to the principal’s office. The girl with T.L.O. admitted to smoking in the restroom while T.L.O. denied smoking entirely. The assistant vice-principal then checked her purse and found cigarettes and much more. He found rolling papers, marijuana, a pipe, a huge stack of dollar bills and 2 letters showing T.L.O. was involved in drug dealing in school. She confessed that she did sell in school once she was taken to the police station and was given a year’s probation since she was sentenced in juvenile court. But the State Supreme Court said her rights from the fourth amendment were violated and overturned the decision. New Jersey then appealed to the State Supreme Court. …show more content…
Tracy Lois Odem claimed that the school authorities do not take the role as parents and because they work for the state they must respect the student’s right to privacy. Hence because of the unreasonable search she confessed and the exclusionary rule is used. The State of New Jersey argued that school officials do in fact as the parents of students there they do not need a warrant to have searches. Seeing as they also had a good reason to check her bag, they say that the exclusionary rule did not