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Schools May Conduct Random Student Drug Testing

2002

In Vernonia School District v. Acton (1995) the Supreme Court finds that a school district’s policy requiring students participating in interscholastic sports to consent to random drug testing does not violate the Fourth Amendment. The Court stipulates that the use of random testing requires a balancing of a student’s privacy with the school’s legitimate interest in protecting students from harm. It expands upon that decision in Board of Education v. Earls (2002), which finds that an Oklahoma school district’s policy of random drug tests for student participants in nonathletic extracurricular activities was also permissible.