People in Interest of T.J.W.

2026 CO 38. No. 25SA245. Fourth Amendment—School Search—Anonymous Tips—Reasonable Suspicion.

June 1, 2026

The supreme court considered the People’s interlocutory appeal challenging a district court’s suppression order. An anonymous tip received through Colorado’s Safe2Tell program described a student smoking marijuana in class. After verifying details alleged in this tip, an assistant principal at the school searched T.J.W.’s backpack and found a marijuana vape pen that was used to charge T.J.W. with marijuana possession. T.J.W. filed a motion to suppress evidence of the marijuana vape pen. The district court found that the search was illegal and granted the motion.

Applying the two-part test established in New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 341 (1985), the court held that the search of T.J.W.’s backpack was “justified at its inception” and thus reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, because the anonymous Safe2Tell tip, combined with the assistant principal’s independent corroboration, supported a finding of reasonable suspicion. Accordingly, the court reversed the district court’s suppression order.