What Does the Fourth Amendment Mean? The law on search and seizure for school officials has been evolving independently of the rules that govern the Fourth Amendment for police and other law-.The Justices then altered Fourth Amendment doc- trine in part: they unanimously took away the power to search the digital contents of a cell phone under the. U.S. Constitution protects the people of the United States from unreasonable searches and seizures. The 4th amendment definitely applies on school grounds, so long as they are actuay within the United States. Students in US public schools have the Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches. These protections are grounded in state law and the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. How does this work in the setting of the public schools? Situating CPS home searches within the traditional Fourth Amendment warrant and probable cause framework addresses three shortcomings in the literature. The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government from conducting unreasonable searches and seizures.