Pubdate: Wed, 04 Jan 2017
Source: Kansas City Star (MO)
Copyright: 2017 The Kansas City Star
Contact:  http://www.kansascity.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/221
Author: Mara Rose Williams

MANDATORY DRUG TESTING AT MISSOURI TECHNICAL COLLEGE IS BANNED BY APPEALS
COURT

Mandatory drug testing of students at a two-year technical college in
Linn, Mo., has been banned by a federal appeals court.

The court has reinstated the ban on mandatory drug testing for most
students at the State Technical College of Missouri. The decision was the
latest ruling in a 5-year-old lawsuit.

The Chronicle of Higher Education and The Associated Press reported that
by a 9-2 vote, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit overturned an
earlier decision by a three-judge panel of the court.

The Court of Appeals decision restores the original 2013 trial judge
decision on the lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in
2011. That decision barred the college, then known as Linn State Technical
College, from mandatory drug testing of all its students.

At that time Judge Nanette K. Laughrey of the U.S. District Court in
Jefferson City said the college could only test students enrolled in
programs with public safety concerns, such as heavy machinery and aviation
maintenance.

The college argued that drug testing prepared students for a drug-free
work environment. But in its latest ruling, the court countered that such
a drug testing policy ignored Fourth Amendment protections against
unreasonable searches, requiring school officials to have probable cause
or warrants before administering such tests.
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