COURT UPHOLDS HARSH DRUG RULES

Offenders' Families Can Be Evicted

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, and they are also handling narcotics cases
this year that could condone government intrusion for public safety.

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, quoting Congress, wrote in the housing
decision that "with drugs leading to murders, muggings and other forms of
violence against tenants," aggressive eviction policies are reasonable. He
also cited Congress' desire to end "the reign of terror" in public housing.
The ruling was 8-0.

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.

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.

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

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.

The so-called "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. The legal challenge centered on policies developed to
follow the law.