The Colorado Supreme Court considered on Wednesday whether a tip submitted through the state’s confidential school safety system provided a Douglas County administrator with reasonable suspicion to search a student’s backpack for drugs.

A trial judge blocked evidence from the search from being used against the child, prompting the district attorney’s office to appeal directly to the Supreme Court. In contrast to most cases that reach the state’s highest court, the filings and the underlying case history are shielded from public view. However, the justices and attorneys discussed the relevant details during oral arguments.

Someone submitted a tip through Safe2Tell, Colorado’s confidential school safety reporting system, alleging a student was smoking marijuana in biology class. The tip also described the student and indicated he was spraying cologne to mask the smell. Thirty-five minutes later, an operator received the tip. Shortly afterward, an administrator contacted the student, T.J.W. Although T.J.W. displayed seemingly no signs of drug use, a search of the backpack turned up evidence of marijuana.

“It seems like there was ample corroboration, at least of the identity of the individual,” Chief Justice Monica M. Márquez told the prosecution. “What we don’t have, and you seem to acknowledge, was corroboration of the actual activity. Is that necessary? And if not, I will express some concern.”

“There are just limitations in the way a school can corroborate these tips,” responded Chief Deputy District Attorney Megan Rasband.

The arguments repeatedly referenced a 1985 U.S. Supreme Court decision, New Jersey v. T.L.O., which addressed the constitutional prohibition on unreasonable searches and seizures in the school context. The court acknowledged that while students retain some privacy rights while in school, the need to maintain order “does not require strict adherence to the requirement that searches be based on probable cause.” Consequently, the court found school officials are typically justified in initiating warrantless searches when there is a reasonable belief of uncovering evidence of a legal or rule violation.

Similarly, Rasband asked the state Supreme Court to rule that a search is initially justified when the “unique nature of the high school context” and the anonymity of the Safe2Tell tip, among other things, make action by the school reasonable. Although corroboration of a confidential tip might be necessary, she said, there were “a lot of details” in the tip against T.J.W.

“What we don’t have,” countered Justice Richard L. Gabriel, “is somebody who said, ‘I smelled the marijuana in the classroom. I smelled the cologne in the classroom.’ So, we don’t have direct corroboration of the alleged criminal activity, true?”

“It’s always easy to Monday-morning quarterback,” added Justice Maria E. Berkenkotter. But “I guess I’m curious, though, that the vice principal or assistant principal didn’t go and check in with the teacher. Looking at reasonableness, is that factoring in?”

Michael S. Juba, representing T.J.W., asked the court to avoid ruling that the anonymity of the Safe2Tell tip contributed to its reliability.

“The anonymity of this program does not give it more reliability. It gives it less reliability,” he said, noting T.J.W.’s alleged conduct occurred “in a classroom full of students and the teacher, (without) any indication that something was going on, this was marijuana being smoked in a classroom.”

“What would tip it over to make it reasonable suspicion?” asked Justice Brian D. Boatright. “If he had come in and had bloodshot and watery eyes?”

Yes, said Juba, but that was not the case with T.J.W.

Márquez wondered what a reasonable search would entail if the tip alleged T.J.W. had a gun instead of marijuana.

“Do we have to ask school officials to corroborate the possession of a weapon before” searching the backpack, she asked.

Yet Márquez also raised concerns about “potential abuse” of Safe2Tell’s confidential reporting system, despite its roughly 2% false-report rate.

“If I’ve got a beef with Justice (Carlos) Samour in biology class and I just report multiple Safe2Tell tips, and I can very adequately describe Justice Samour and what class schedule he has,” she said, “I can make sure that he gets hauled out of class and his backpack is searched.”

The case is People in the Interest of T.J.W.