a pack of Marlboro cigarettes and rolling paper in plain view. These findings prompted Choplick to conduct a more thorough search of T. L. O.'s purse, revealing a small amount of marijuana, a tobacco pipe, an index card with the names of students who owed her money, and two letters linking her to dealing marijuana. Choplick notified the police and T. L. O.'s mother, who both arrived at the school shortly after. A police officer requested for T. L. O. to be brought to the police station for questioning, and T. L. O.'s mother drove her from the school to the police station. During questioning, T. L. O. admitted to selling marijuana on school property. She was convicted of dealing and use of illicit drugs. She was expelled from the school and fined $1,000. She was charged as a juvenile for the drugs and paraphernalia found in the search. Opinion of the Court Oral arguments were initially heard on March 28, 1984. The Supreme Court of the United States, in a 6–3 decision issued by Justice White, balancing between the legitimate expectation of privacy of the individual, even a child, and the school's interest in maintaining order and discipline, held for the appellant (the state). According to school officials, they do require a "reasonable suspicion" to perform a search. Her possession of any cigarettes was relevant to whether or not she was being truthful, and since she had been caught in the bathroom and taken directly to the office, it was reasonable to assume she had the cigarettes in her purse. Thus, the vice-principal had reasonable cause to suspect a school rule had been broken, and more than just a "hunch" to search the purse. When the vice-principal was searching for the cigarettes, the drug-related evidence was in plain view. Plain view is an exception to the warrant requirement of the Fourth Amendment. Thus, the reasonable search for cigarettes led to some of the drug related material being discovered, which justified a search (including the zippered compartments inside the bag) resulting in the discovery of the cigarettes and other evidence including a small bag of marijuana and cigarette rolling papers. Other opinions In a separate concurring opinion, Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. (joined by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor) stated that while he agreed with the Court's opinion, he felt that students in primary and secondary educational settings should not be