High Court Approves Broader School Drug Testing

WASHINGTON -- 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 allows 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.

Bob Chase, the head of the National Education Association, said that randomly testing students when there is no previous suspicion of drug use is an invasion of privacy.

A former Oklahoma high school honor student had challenged the drug testing policy. Her lawyer said "all the experts" say such drug testing is counter-productive. He says the best way to prevent drug use is getting kids involved in after-school programs.

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.