D.N.M.: Suspicionless patdown of school prom attendees violated the Fourth Amendment, but qualified immunity applies

Suspicionless patdown of school prom attendees violated the Fourth Amendment, but school officials get qualified immunity. Herrera v. Santa Fe Pub. Schs, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96171 (D. N.M. June 28, 2013):

The Court will grant the Motion for Summary Judgment, because Romero is entitled to qualified immunity. The Court concludes that, by requesting that guards from Defendant ASI, New Mexico, LLC perform pat-down searches of all Prom attendees, Romero violated the Plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. The Court further concludes, however, that the Plaintiffs’ right to be free from these suspicionless pat-down searches was not clearly established at the time of the Prom in April, 2011. Additionally, with respect to Plaintiff Candice Herrera’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 claim, the Plaintiffs establish a genuine issue of fact whether Romero saw the ASI New Mexico guard require C. Herrera to lift her dress, and expose her bare leg above her knee. Romero is entitled to qualified immunity, however, even if Romero saw that conduct, because it was not clearly established in April, 2011, that a search requiring female students to lift their dresses up above their knees was an unreasonable, and thus unconstitutional, search in the public school context.