For the legal geeks, the petition, opp-cert and briefs filed so far can be found
here.
The Supreme Court has accepted two questions presented in this case:
1. Whether the Fourth Amendment prohibits public school officials from conducting a search of a student suspected of possessing and distributing a prescription drug on campus in violation of school policy.
2. Whether the Ninth Circuit departed from established principles of qualified immunity in holding that a public school administrator may be liable in a damages lawsuit under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for conducting a search of a student suspected of possessing and distributing a prescription drug on campus.
I have only scanned the petition and opp-cert. In essense, it appears that the school district is arguing that the 9th Circuit applied a criminal standard for a search ("probable cause") that the Supreme Court has repeatedly held does not apply in the school context, and that the 9th Circuit substituted its judgment for that of the school officials as to whether a search and what kind of search was warranted, again something the Supreme Court has counseled against. The ACLU, for the student, seems to argue basically that the 9th Circuit's opinion is completely consistent with Supreme Court precedent and the decisions of other circuits.
I can only say that I would have to assume that the Court's granting of cert indicates that at least 4 justices disagree with the ACLU about the 9th Circuit's decision being consistent with other SCOTUS and circuit cases -- otherwise, they would have seen no reason to take the case.
Perhaps I'm giving relying too much on the fact that this comes out of the 9th Circuit, but I'd put my money on the school district winning this one. Based on my quick read of the filings, that's the way I lean to thinking it should come out.
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