Vernonia Sch. Dist. 47J v. Acton

63 U.S.L.W. 4653 (U.S. June 26, 1995) ; Clearinghouse Number: 50744

Description

Supreme Court Upholds School’s Policy Requiring Student Athletes to Submit to Random Drug Testing

Abstract

The Supreme Court has held that petitioner high school’s policy requiring student athletes to submit to random urinalysis for drug testing does not violate respondent student’s Fourth and Fourteenth Amendment rights. Student was denied participation in the school’s football program on the basis of his refusal to consent to testing. The district court dismissed student’s claims, but the Ninth Circuit reversed, and school appealed. The Supreme Court found that public school students, and particularly student athletes, have a lesser expectation of privacy than members of the population generally. In addition, the Court found that the privacy interests compromised by the urine testing policy at issue here were negligible. Finally, the Court found the nature and immediacy of the governmental concern at issue—deterring drug use by the nation’s schoolchildren—to be significant. Accordingly, the Court held that the school’s policy was reasonable and hence constitutional. Dissenting, Justice O’Connor, joined by Justice Stevens and Justice Souter, argued that the school’s policy was not reasonable because it was not clear that a suspicion-based scheme, rather than a search of all student athletes, would have been ineffective.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Docket Date
1995-06-26 00:00:00+00:00

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