COURT AFFIRMS DRUG EVICTIONS

Rules That Allow Families To Be Kicked Out Of Public Housing Upheld

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court reinforced a hard line against drugs
Tuesday, backing rules that permit eviction of families from federally
subsidized housing if any family member or guest is involved in narcotics.

The decision came a week after justices indicated they were ready to allow
wider drug-testing in schools. The court is also handling narcotics cases
this year that could condone government intrusion for public safety.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote in the housing decision that "with
drugs leading to murders, muggings and other forms of violence against
tenants," aggressive eviction policies are reasonable. The court ruling was
8-0; Justice Stephen Breyer did not take part.

The court said that public housing directors could evict entire families
for drug use by one member, regardless of whether the use was on public
housing property or if anyone else knew about it.

The losers were four California senior citizens who received eviction
notices because of the drug use of relatives or caregivers.

Critics of the law said there is a double standard for the poor who depend
on public housing.

"This war on drugs is being waged most viciously against the poor people,"
said Daniel Abrahamson, of the Drug Policy Alliance. "Anytime the Supreme
Court takes a case with drugs in it, it is another opportunity to further
erode our civil liberties."

The issue of substance abuse has touched the White House. President Bush's
underage daughters were caught trying to buy alcohol in a Texas restaurant
last year and his niece, the daughter of Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was
admitted to a drug treatment center in February after being arrested on a
prescription drug charge.

Two more drug cases will be argued before the court next month, both at the
request of the Bush administration. One could make it easier to search
public transportation passengers who may be drug couriers, the other may
affirm the way sentences are figured in drug cases.

Jonathan Macey, a professor at Cornell University Law School, said the
court's decisions "give legitimacy to the war on drugs." Regardless of the
impact, it's "symbolic and morale boosting" when the court affirms the
government's drug tools, he said.

Justices have resolved two search and seizure cases this term in favor of
government. In one, the court ruled that an officer had enough suspicion to
make a traffic stop when he saw a family acting strangely in a minivan near
the Mexico border. The officer found 125 pounds of marijuana.

The "one-strike" housing provision at issue in Tuesday's decision was part
of a drug law Congress passed in 1988 amid complaints about crime in public
housing.