Board of Education v. Earls

Infobox SCOTUS case
Litigants=Board of Education v. Earls
ArgueDate=March 19
ArgueYear=2002
DecideDate=June 27
DecideYear=2002
FullName=Board of Education of Independent School District of Pottawatomie County et al. v. Earls et al.
USVol=536
USPage=822
Citation=
Prior=On writ of certiorari to the Court of Appeals of the Tenth Circuit
Subsequent=
Holding=Coercive drug testing imposed by school district upon students who participate in extracurricular activities does not violate the Fourth Amendment.
SCOTUS=1994-2005
Majority=Thomas
JoinMajority=Kennedy, Scalia, Rehnquist
Concurrence=Breyer
Dissent=Ginsburg
JoinDissent=Stevens, O'Connor, Souter
Dissent2=O'Connor
JoinDissent2=Souter
LawsApplied=U.S. Const. amend. IV

Board of Education v. Earls, ussc|536|822|2002 was a 2002 decision of the Supreme Court of the United States which ruled, 5-4, that mandatory drug testing of students in extracurricular activities was constitutional. It was brought by two students, Lindsay Earls and Daniel James, and their families against the school board of Tecumseh, Oklahoma, alleging that their policy requiring students to consent to random urinalysis testing for drug use violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The majority decision, written by Justice Clarence Thomas, with a concurring opinion by Justice Stephen Breyer, held that students in extracurricular activities had a diminished expectation of privacy, and that the policy furthered an important interest of the school in preventing drug use among students. This rationale was based on the precedent "Vernonia School District 47J v. Acton", which allowed drug testing for athletes.

ee also

*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 536

References

* [http://www.oyez.org/oyez/resource/case/1493/ Headnote and summary of the decision]
* [http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=01-332 Full text of the decision including concurring and dissenting opinions]