-Caveat Lector-

High court approves random drug tests in public schools

June 27, 2002 Posted: 2:51 PM EDT (1851 GMT)

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court approved random drug tests for many
public high school students Thursday, ruling that schools' interest in
ridding their campuses of drugs outweighs an individual's right to privacy.

The 5-4 decision would allow the broadest drug testing the court has yet
permitted for young people whom authorities have no particular reason to
suspect of wrongdoing.

It applies to students who join competitive after-school activities or teams,
a category that includes many if not most middle-school and high-school
students.

Previously, these tests had been allowed only for student athletes.

"We find that testing students who participate in extracurricular activities
is a reasonably effective means of addressing the school district's
legitimate concerns in preventing, deterring and detecting drug use," Justice
Clarence Thomas wrote for himself, Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and
Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy and Stephen Breyer.

The court stopped short of allowing random tests for any student, whether or
not involved in extracurricular activities, but several justices have
indicated they are interested in answering that question at some point.

The court ruled against a former Oklahoma high school honor student who
competed on an academic quiz team and sang in the choir. Lindsay Earls, a
self-described "goodie two-shoes," tested negative but sued over what she
called a humiliating and accusatory policy.

The Pottawatomie County school system had considered testing all students.
Instead, it settled for testing only those involved in extracurricular
activities on the theory that by voluntarily representing the school, those
students had a lower expectation of privacy than did students at large.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

"If this were a dictatorship, it'd be a heck of a lot easier, just so
long as I'm the dictator."
 -GW Bush during a photo-op with Congressional leaders on
12/18/2000.
As broadcast on CNN and available in transcript on their website
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0012/18/nd.01.html

Steve Wingate, Webmaster
ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES
http://www.anomalous-images.com

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