Chicago Tribune Page 1 28 June '02 -------------------- Court OKs Random Drug Tests in Schools -------------------- By GINA HOLLAND Associated Press Writer June 27, 2002, 5:03 PM CDT WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court put public high school students on notice Thursday: Drug tests may be required for playing chess or joining the cheerleader squad. Justices ruled 5-4 that schools' interest in ridding their campuses of drugs outweighs students' right to privacy, allowing the broadest drug testing yet of young people whom authorities have no particular reason to suspect of wrongdoing. The decision gives school leaders a free hand to test students who participate in competitive after-school activities or teams -- more than half the estimated 14 million American high school students. Drug tests had been allowed previously just 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, but several justices have indicated they are interested in answering that question at some point. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, in a dissent, said the "program upheld today is not reasonable, it is capricious, even perverse." 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 "goody two-shoes," tested negative but sued over what she called a humiliating and accusatory policy. She said Thursday was "a sad day for students in America." "I find it very disappointing that the court would find it reasonable to drug-test students when all the experts, from pediatricians to teachers, say that drug testing is counterproductive," said Graham Boyd, director of drug policy litigation at the American Civil Liberties Union and Earls' lawyer. "The best way to prevent drug use is to involve them in extracurricular activities," Boyd said. Justice Stephen Breyer, who provided the crucial fifth vote for the ruling, wrote separately to say that he hopes the testing reduces peer pressure and "addresses a serious national problem." "It offers the adolescent a nonthreatening reason to decline his friend's drug-use invitations, namely that he intends to play baseball, participate in debate, join the band or engage in any one of a half-dozen useful, interesting and important activities," he wrote. The ruling is a follow-up to a 1995 case, in which the Supreme Court allowed random urine tests for student athletes. In that case, the court found that the school had a pervasive drug problem and that athletes were among the users. The court also found that athletes had less expectation of privacy. Thomas said students who "participate in competitive extracurricular activities voluntarily subject themselves to many of the same intrusions on their privacy as do athletes." Ginsburg, joined by Justices John Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter, said extracurricular activities should not be discouraged. They "serve students of all manner: the modest and shy along with the bold and uninhibited," Ginsburg wrote. The Bush administration backed the school system in rural Tecumseh, Okla., which had considered testing all students, then settled on testing only those involved in competitive extracurricular activities on the theory that by voluntarily representing the school, those students had a lower expectation of privacy than did students at large. Earls argued that the Oklahoma school board could not show that drugs were a big problem at Tecumseh High School. She claimed the "suspicionless" drug tests violated the Constitution's guarantee against unreasonable searches. "This decision came close to saying that students shed their Fourth Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate," said Jamin Raskin, a constitutional law professor at American University. "Each time the court erodes civil liberties in public schools, it makes the environment a harsher one. Students get the message they're second-class citizens." Many schools installed drug testing programs for athletes after the 1995 ruling, but wider drug testing remains relatively rare among the nation's 15,500 public school districts. Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., said the court's ruling should drive an expansion of testing nationwide and will not hurt the privacy of students. The testing "is only burdensome on those who want to waste their lives getting high," he said. The ruling disappointed such groups as Students for Sensible Drug Policy. "After-school programs are the best way to keep kids off drugs and off the street," said Shawn Heller, a recent college graduate who's the group's national director. "Being part of the band or the student newspaper gives a kid something to do." The Tecumseh testing program ran for part of two school years, beginning in 1998. It was suspended after Earls and another student sued. The case is Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls, 01-332. On the Net: Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourtus.gov Appeals court ruling: http://www.uscourts.gov/links.html and click on 10th Circuit. Copyright (c) 2002, The Associated Press