U.S. Supreme Court to Advise Schools on Drug Testing November 9, 2001
News Summary
The U.S. Supreme Court said it would give more guidance to schools that want to conduct drug testing, the Associated Press reported Nov. 8.The Supreme Court justices are following up on their 1995 ruling that allowed an Oregon school district to test athletes for drugs. They agreed to hear a case involving an Oklahoma school district where an appeals court ruled that random drug testing of students violated the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches.
Under the Oklahoma school district's drug policy, students involved in extracurricular activities, such as the chorus, are subject to random testing. In its ruling, the appeals court said the school district had no justification for the drug testing because there are few problems with drugs in schools.
The justices said they would decide whether school administrators must demonstrate that schools have a serious drug problem before randomly testing certain students.
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