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    Zero Tolerence Intolerance

    Posted Wednesday, April 22, 2009 1:36 PM | By Emily Yoffe
    I'm feeling zero tolerance for zero tolerance rules. Dahlia's description of the Supreme Court oral argument about the case of a 13 year-old girl who was strip searched in school to see if she was smuggling Advil in a body cavity is worthy of Saturday Night Live. It would be funny, except for the fact that school administrators, and now apparently the Supreme Court, thinks this ludicrous humiliation is justified in order to uphold zero tolerance drug policies. It doesn't matter that this girl could stop at a drug store on the way home and buy an entire bottle of this contraband, because judgment and common sense apparently have been outlawed along with painkillers for menstrual cramps. The idiocy of zero tolerance was also described in yesterday's New York Times story about the Human Rights Watch official who is unable to join the administration because he is a registered lobbyist for the group. On the campaign trail, Obama declared a ban on lobbyists joining his administration, so the expert on human rights can't become human rights chief precisely because he is an advocate on this issue. Never mind that the right "to petition the government for a redress of grievances" is part of the First Amendment. Making ridiculous rules is easier than making decisions. 
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