Pubdate: Wed, 20 Mar 2002 Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution (GA) Copyright: 2002 Cox Interactive Media. Contact: http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/28 Author: Anne Gearan SUPREME COURT: DRUG TESTS FOR STUDENTS MAY BROADEN Washington --- Several Supreme Court justices embraced the idea of random drug tests for students involved in after-school activities ranging from band to chess club. It was seen as a major step toward allowing drug-testing for all students. A lawyer for a rural Oklahoma school district argued Tuesday that random drug tests for some students was a reasonable response to a general problem of drug use among young people. If the court agrees, it would allow far broader scrutiny of the majority of the nation's 24 million high school students who participate in extracurricular activities. ''Do you think any school in the United States does not have a drug problem?'' Justice Antonin Scalia asked rhetorically at one point. The court already has ruled that schools may test athletes for drugs. That 1995 ruling made an exception to the general rule that authorities must have some specific reason to suspect wrongdoing before targeting someone for search. Students who routinely strip naked in a locker room have a lower expectation of privacy than other students, the court reasoned then. Students who used drugs while playing vigorous sports also could be a danger to themselves or others, the court said. Justice Stephen Breyer suggested that the Oklahoma school district took the logical next step. Breyer voted with the majority to approve testing of athletes, and he noted on Tuesday, ''It's hard for me to see if I came out one way [then] I'd come out different here.'' The court's ruling in the current case, expected by summer, should fill in a major question left from the 1995 ruling: whether the factors that made drug testing acceptable for athletes apply to other after-school activities, or even students at large. Wider drug testing remains relatively rare among the nation's 15,500 public school districts. Some members of the Tecumseh, Okla., school board wanted to test all students, but lawyers advised limiting tests to students involved in competitive after-school activities. The Bush administration is backing the school district, as is a long list of organizations, including the Drug-Free Schools Coalition and the National School Boards Association. ''I think this is a deterrent,'' school district lawyer Linda Meoli argued. ''If they want to audition or go out for one of these competitive activities, they know'' drug testing is a requirement. In what might be the Bush administration's first such statement, Deputy Solicitor General Paul Clement said universal testing would be constitutional. Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and David Souter were the most vocal in questioning the Tecumseh policy. O'Connor noted that lower-court testimony indicated students involved in seemingly wholesome after-school activities were less likely than their peers to get into trouble with drugs. The Tecumseh testing program ran for part of two school years. It was suspended after Lindsey Earls, captain of the school academic quiz team and a self-described ''goodie two-shoes,'' sued over a 1998 drug test. She passed the test. ''The constitutional rights of a lot of students are at stake here,'' Earls said after Tuesday's oral argument session. ''My biggest fear is there will be students drug-tested all over, students whose privacy is invaded,'' said Earls, now a freshman at Dartmouth College. The Tecumseh policy covered a range of voluntary clubs and sports, including the Future Farmers of America club, cheerleading and football. Students were tested at the beginning of the school year. Thereafter, tests were random. Overall, 505 high school students were tested for drug use. Three students, all of them athletes, tested positive, Earls' lawyer said. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart