SUPREME COURT LETS STAND WIDER STUDENT DRUG TESTS

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a
constitutional challenge to an Indiana school that tests certain
students for drugs and alcohol. The court's action also could affect
schools in Illinois and Wisconsin.

The court let stand a decision by the federal appeals court in
Chicago, which had approved the testing earlier this year. That means
a high school in Rushville, Ind., may continue its drug-testing
program for students involved in extracurricular activities, as can
other schools in the three states under the appeals court's
jurisdiction.

The case was among more than 1,500 the court declined to review
Monday, its first day back from summer recess. The court said it would
decide six cases, including one that raises the issue of deporting
illegal immigrants who claim they will be persecuted if returned to
their native countries.

The Supreme Court already has announced 44 cases it will decide this
year, and it will continue adding cases to its docket until early next
year.

Though Monday was relatively quiet inside the court, the sidewalk in
front of the white marble building was filled with marchers chanting
and singing to protest the small number of minority law clerks hired
by the justices. Nineteen people, including NAACP President Kweisi
Mfume, were arrested for moving off the sidewalk onto court property.

The demonstration, organized by the NAACP and a coalition of minority
legal groups, was designed to call attention to the fact that, of the
428 law clerks hired by the current justices, less than 2 percent have
been African-American and only 1 percent have been Hispanic. No
American Indian has ever clerked for a Supreme Court justice.

"No matter how you look at it, there's no rational explanation for
it," said Randy Jones, immediate past president of the National Bar
Association, the nation's largest association of black lawyers.

"The majority of issues the Supreme Court decides significantly
impacts the minority community, and if you have a situation where only
a certain race of people are being law clerks, you lose a perspective,
you lose the knowledge and wisdom of minority persons in this country."

Jones heads a task force that will try to find ways to increase the
number of minority law clerks at the Supreme Court and in the lower
federal courts. He met over the summer with Justice Clarence Thomas,
who, with Justice John Paul Stevens, has the best record for hiring
minority clerks. Jones said Thomas told him he would like to see more
minority candidates.

Inside the courtroom Monday, there was little evidence of controversy.
On the first Monday of October, the court always hands out thick
stacks of papers listing the names of cases it summarily is declining
to review.

Buried in that list Monday were scores of interesting decisions that
will stand as law in their jurisdictions until the Supreme Court says
otherwise, including the Indiana drug-testing case.

That case arose after Rushville Consolidated High School began
requiring students involved in any extracurricular activity to agree
to random testing for drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

Four parents sued on behalf of their four children, arguing that the
testing violated the Constitution's prohibition against unreasonable
searches and seizures.

The appeals court disagreed, pointing to a 1995 Supreme Court decision
that allowed school districts to test student athletes for drugs.

Broader drug testing also is permissible, the appeals court said,
noting that extracurricular activities are voluntary and that the
purpose of the testing "is to protect the health of the students involved."

Other issues rejected for review Monday included whether a New York
City ordinance banning topless dancing discriminates against female
dancers.

The court also let stand a North Carolina high school teacher's
punishment for letting students put on a controversial play. She
alleged her free speech rights were violated after she was transferred
to a junior high school, where she could no longer teach advanced
drama students.

As members of the House Judiciary Committee across the street in
Congress were debating whether to launch an impeachment inquiry of
President Clinton, the court disposed of a matter related to the
Monica Lewinsky investigation.

It refused to review a ruling that kept the news media away from
federal court proceedings and documents related to the grand jury
investigation of the relationship between Clinton and Lewinsky.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry