Constitutional Law
Washington Justices Bar Random Drug Tests of Student Athletes
Posted Mar 14, 2008, 08:13 am CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The Washington Supreme Court has ruled the state constitution protects student athletes from random drug tests.
The U.S. Supreme Court has permitted such searches for “special needs,” but the Washington high court said the state constitution offers greater protection than its federal counterpart, the Seattle Times reports. The plurality opinion cited the state constitutional ban on searches “without authority of law.”
"If we were to allow random drug testing here, what prevents school districts from either later drug testing students participating in any extracurricular activities, as federal courts now allow, or testing the entire student population?" Justice Richard Sanders wrote in the plurality opinion. Three of the court’s nine justices joined his opinion, the Associated Press reports.
Justice Barbara Madsen wrote in a concurring opinion that a narrow special needs exception could allow drug tests in some cases, although not in the one before the court. She was joined by three justices. One justice did not participate.
The ACLU of Washington represented students and their parents who challenged the drug-testing policy by the Wahkiakum School District.
Comments not appearing after a few seconds? Try emptying your cache ("Temporary Internet files"), making sure Javascript is activated, and refresh this page.