SUPREME COURT WEIGHS BROADER DRUG TESTS FOR STUDENTS

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Several Supreme Court justices embraced the idea of
random drug tests for students involved in after-school activities ranging
from band to chess club.

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 has already ruled that schools may test athletes for drugs. That
1995 ruling made an exception to the general rule that authorities must
have a specific reason to suspect wrongdoing before targeting someone for
search.

Justice Stephen Breyer suggested the Oklahoma school district took the
logical next step in light of the earlier ruling. Breyer voted with the
majority to approve athlete testing, 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 decision, expected by summer, should answer a 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. Lower courts have reached differing conclusions about the
practice.

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.

Universal testing was clearly on the minds of many justices, and they
challenged all sides to say whether such a policy would be constitutional.

School district lawyer Linda Meoli said probably not, and the American
Civil Liberties Union lawyer challenging the school said definitely not.
But 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, Okla., policy.

O'Connor noted that lower court testimony indicated students involved in
seemingly wholesome after-school activities were less likely to get into
trouble with drugs.

"It's just so odd," she said of the testing plan. "It's so
counterintuitive, isn't it?"

The Tecumseh testing program ran for part of two school years. It was
suspended after Lindsey Earls, captain of the school's academic quiz team,
sued over a 1998 drug test. She passed the test.

Overall, 505 Tecumseh students were tested for drug use. Three students,
all of them athletes, tested positive, Earls' lawyer said.