SUPREME COURT BACKS STUDENT DRUG TESTING

Four years ago, James Acton was barred from playing on his seventh-grade football team in Vernonia, Ore. after he refused to take a drug test. Acton's parents sued, arguing that their son, who was not a known drug user, had been subjected to unreasonable search. Today, in a 6-3 decision with broad implications for all American students, the Supreme Court ruled that public schools can require athletes to undergo random drug testing, without establishing any suspicion that the students involved are abusing substances. The Court held that school athletes have a lesser expectation of privacy, so that testing them does not constitute an unreasonable search. Justice Antonin Scalia cautioned that the new ruling applied only to athletes, and should not be interpreted as condoning suspicionless searches regarding other students.TIME legal correspondent Adam Cohennotes that the justices did not divide along traditional lines in this ruling. "Justice O'Connor and Justice Souter, who are generally viewed as conservatives, strongly dissented from this decision." At the same time, "Justices Breyer and Ginsberg, two Clinton appointees who might be expected to vote in a more liberal manner, went along with the majority."