APPEALS COURT UPHOLDS RULING STRIKING DOWN LOUISIANA DRUG TESTING LAW

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Louisiana's law requiring random drug tests for elected
officials is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday,
rejecting arguments that citizens need protection from drug-abusing lawmakers.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal district judge who
struck down the law last year, calling Judge Eldon Fallon's decision
"complete and well-crafted."

Fallon said the law violated the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment
protection against illegal search and seizures. He also said state
officials failed to show a special need to drug test elected officials.

Gov. Mike Foster, a key supporter, will appeal the decision to the U.S.
Supreme Court, said his spokeswoman, Marsanne Golsby.

The law, originally scheduled to go in effect in January, 1998, was part of
a drug-testing package described as one of the most sweeping ever passed in
the country.

It required 10 percent of state and local officials to be randomly tested
each year. Officials who refused would have faced $10,000 fines and censure.

Under the law, results of the a first round of drug tests would have been
kept private. When drugs were detected, second tests would have been
administered within six months. If they showed positive signs of drugs, the
officials' identities would have become public.

The ruling came as no surprise to William Rittenberg, the lawyer who
represented state Rep. Arthur Morrell, a New Orleans Democrat, in the suit
against the law.

Rittenberg said Foster and others wasted public money by passing and
defending the law because the U.S. Supreme Court had already ruled that
candidates for public office cannot be tested for drugs.

"This wasn't a case that required any deep thinking," Rittenberg said.