[20020715]RS21082_学生药物检测：宪法问题.pdf

Order Code RS21082Updated July 15, 2002Student Drug Testing: Constitutional Issuesname redactedLegislative AttorneyAmerican Law DivisionSummaryIssues of personal privacy and application of Fourth Amendment safeguardsagainst “unreasonable” governmental searches and seizures are the focus of judicialrulings on the constitutionality of “suspicionless” random drug testing of public schoolstudents. Generally speaking, governmental actors are required by the FourthAmendment to obtain warrants based on probable cause in order to effectuateconstitutional searches and seizure. An exception to ordinary warrant requirements hasgradually evolved, however, for cases where a “special need” of the government, notrelated to criminal law enforcement, is found by the courts to outweigh any “diminishedexpectation” of privacy invaded by the search. The special needs analysis, first appliedto administrative searches to enforce municipal health and safety regulations, has beenextended by the Supreme Court to uphold suspicionless drug testing of employees infederally regulated industries, and random testing of high school student athletes.Revisiting the issue last term, in Board of Education of Independe