{"id":4103,"date":"2010-10-13T22:38:28","date_gmt":"2010-10-14T02:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/?p=4103"},"modified":"2010-10-13T22:40:51","modified_gmt":"2010-10-14T02:40:51","slug":"must-police-obtain-a-warrant-or-consent-before-interviewing-child-at-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/must-police-obtain-a-warrant-or-consent-before-interviewing-child-at-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Must Police Obtain a Warrant or Consent Before Interviewing Child at School?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_pop\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/gallery\/share-button-gray.png\" style=\"border:0px\" alt=\"Share\" \/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_icon_type = \"labels\";var hupso_background=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_border=\"#FFFFFF\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_twitter_via=\"wrightslaw\";var hupso_url=\"\";var hupso_title=\"Must%20Police%20Obtain%20a%20Warrant%20or%20Consent%20Before%20Interviewing%20Child%20at%20School%3F%20\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether police and social workers must obtain a warrant, court order, or parental consent before interviewing children at school about claims of sexual abuse. <\/p>\n<p>An Oregon police officer and protective services worker argue that, because details of child sex abuse are known only to the victim and the perpetrator &#8230; <!--more--> police may not have sufficient evidence to support a warrant. They say they need the authority to interview an alleged victim without the parents\u2019 consent or presence. These interviews often take place at school.<\/p>\n<p>In December 2009, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the investigators violated the child&#8217;s Fourth Amendment rights to be free of unreasonable search and seizure when they interviewed her at school without a warrant, court order, parental consent, or exigent circumstances.<\/p>\n<p>The Ninth Circuit also held that the investigators were entitled to qualified immunity because they could have believed that they were not violating a clearly established right of the student to be free from such a seizure at school.<\/p>\n<p>The Supreme Court consolidated the investigators&#8217; cases [<em>Camreta v. Greene<\/em>, <em>et al<\/em>. (09-1454) and <em>Alford v. Greene, et al<\/em>. (09-1478)] and will hear oral arguments later in this term.<\/p>\n<p>Questions Presented:<br \/>\n(1) Whether the traditional warrant\/warrant exception requirements that apply to seizures of suspected criminals should apply to an interview of the child in light of reports of child abuse, or whether instead a balancing standard should apply; and<br \/>\n(2) whether the Ninth Circuit\u2019s constitutional ruling is reviewable, notwithstanding that it ruled in the petitioner\u2019s favor on qualified immunity grounds.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty-seven states filed an amicus (friend-of-the-court) brief on behalf of the investigators, and asked the Court to hear the case. The child&#8217;s mother filed a brief in opposition, and urged the justices not to disturb the 9th Circuit&#8217;s ruling.<\/p>\n<p><strong>More About this Case<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Court to Rule on Child Interviews\" href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/?p=106379\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Court to rule on child interviews<\/span><\/a> (Scotusblog)<br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/?p=106379<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"Justices to Weight Police Questioning at School\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.edweek.org\/edweek\/school_law\/2010\/10\/justices_to_weigh_police_seizu.html\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Justices to Weigh Police Questioning at School<\/span><\/a> (School Law Blog)<br \/>\nhttp:\/\/blogs.edweek.org\/edweek\/school_law\/2010\/10\/justices_to_weigh_police_seizu.html<\/p>\n<p><strong>Briefs and Documents<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ca9.uscourts.gov\/datastore\/opinions\/2009\/12\/10\/06-35333.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Decision by the Ninth Circuit<\/span><\/a><br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.ca9.uscourts.gov\/datastore\/opinions\/2009\/12\/10\/06-35333.pdf<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/09-1454_pet.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Petition for Certiorari<\/span><br \/>\n<\/a>http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/09-1454_pet.pdf<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/BIO.09-1454.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Brief in Opposition<\/span><br \/>\n<\/a>http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/BIO.09-1454.pdf<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/09-1454_Amicus-brief-of-states.pdf\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\">Amicus Brief of States<\/span><\/a><br \/>\nhttp:\/\/www.scotusblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/07\/09-1454_Amicus-brief-of-states.pdf<\/p>\n<p>We will post updates on this case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether police and social workers must obtain a warrant, court order, or parental consent before interviewing children at school about claims of <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/must-police-obtain-a-warrant-or-consent-before-interviewing-child-at-school\/\">Continue Reading \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1368,1370,195,1266,6],"tags":[682,678,685,631,287,683,679,684,681,680,272],"class_list":["post-4103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abuse-restraints","category-discipline-behavior","category-confidentiality","category-due-process","category-legal-decisions","tag-4th-amendment","tag-camreta-v-greene","tag-child-abuse","tag-education-law","tag-parental-consent","tag-police-authority","tag-protective-services","tag-school-interview","tag-search-and-seizure","tag-sexual-abuse","tag-supreme-court"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4103"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4124,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4103\/revisions\/4124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrightslaw.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}