Court Upholds Mandatory Drug Testing for Students
In the case of Board of Education v. Earls, decided on this day, the Supreme Court upheld mandatory drug testing for middle school and high school students as a requirement for participating in extracurricular activities.
The case involved the Student Activities Drug Testing Policy of the Tecumseh, Oklahoma, School District.
Previously, on March 21, 1989, the Court had upheld the constitutionality of mandatory drug testing for federal employees.
Justice Clarence Thomas for the Court: “We also reject respondents’ argument that drug testing must presumptively be based upon an individualized reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing because such a testing regime would be less intrusive. In this context, the Fourth Amendment does not require a finding of individualized suspicion, see supra, at 5, and we decline to impose such a requirement on schools attempting to prevent and detect drug use by students. Moreover, we question whether testing based on individualized suspicion in fact would be less intrusive.”
Learn more about mandatory drug testing: https://www.aclu.org/criminal-law-reform/drug-testing
Listen to the oral arguments in the case: http://www.oyez.org/cases/2000-2009/2001/2001_01_332