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High Court Considers
School Drug Tests
Tue Mar 19, 5:27 PM
ET
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - Several US Supreme Court justices questioned on Tuesday
whether a program to counter drug abuse among students participating
in extracurricular activities could be applied to all public high
school students.
The justices also
questioned why the school district in the case adopted the drug
tests for students in non-athletic extracurricular activities when
it earlier told the federal government it did not have a major drug
abuse problem.
A Bush
administration lawyer argued that a school could test all of its
students without violating constitutional privacy rights and said
schools have more leeway than the federal government in adopting
drug testing programs.
The Oklahoma
program required students participating in after-school activities
to submit to random urinalysis without any suspicion that they had
been using illegal drugs.
The drug tests
covered such activities as cheerleading, choir, band and the
academic team. A student who refuses to take the test cannot take
part in competition.
Linda Meoli, an
attorney representing the Tecumseh School District in Pottawatomie
County, argued that drug tests for students in extracurricular
activities passed constitutional muster.
But Justice David
Souter (news - web sites) said the school initially told the federal
government it had no problem with drug use and then found only three
instances of drug use in several years of tests. "You're going to
lose" either way, he told Meoli.
Souter and Justice
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (news - web sites) questioned whether Meoli's
argument of testing as a deterrent would allow the program to be
expanded to every child in every school in the United States.
NAMES OF DRUG USERS
ON BULLETIN BOARDS?
Souter asked
whether, as a sanction, a school could post the name and photograph
on a bulletin board of those who fail a drug test. Meoli replied it
would be "very cruel" and said the school did not want to brand
students as drug users.
Deputy Solicitor
General Paul Clement of the US Justice Department (news - web sites)
supported the school district.
Justice Sandra Day
O'Connor (news - web sites) cited evidence that students
participating in extracurricular activities were the least likely to
use drugs. She said it seemed "so odd" to penalize those students.
Graham Boyd, a
lawyer represent two students who challenged the drug tests, said
the school already has cameras in the hallways, security guards and
locker searches, and has also brought in drug-sniffing dogs.
He said there was
no need for the drug tests, and that the students who abused drugs
were not in the choir or band.
Justice Stephen
Breyer (news - web sites) said it was hard for him to see how the
Oklahoma case would come out differently from a 1995 ruling in which
the court allowed public high schools and middle schools to force
student athletes to submit to drug tests.
Justice Anthony
Kennedy (news - web sites) asked whether a district would be
required to set up a school for those who use drugs and a school
that required mandatory testing for everyone. He said no parent
would send their child to the first school, except perhaps the
parents of Boyd's clients.
Boyd replied that
the students who challenged the policy had never been found to use
drugs.
Lindsay Earls, one
of those who challenged the policy, was in the choir, marching band
and academic team. Earls, who now is a student at Dartmouth College,
attended the arguments.
The Supreme Court
will decide the case by the end of June.
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