The legal freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures is guaranteed to all adult citizens under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. These same legal protections from unreasonable searches and seizures are not guaranteed to today's k-12 student population. School officials are not subject to the same warrant and probable cause…

As it weighs the high-profile case of a 13-year-old girl strip-searched at school, the U.S. Supreme Court is grappling with where to draw the line between protecting student privacy rights and allowing school officials to take steps to ensure a safe environment. During oral arguments, several of the justices seemed sympathetic to the challenges…

Public concern about use of drugs by young people in the United States remains high and efforts to counter drug abuse through education and intervention continue. While drug testing of athletes at the collegiate level is fairly common, legal restraints make testing less common at the secondary school level. After citing numerous statistics…

Examines Fourth Amendment legal issues involved in drug testing of public employees. Discusses several recent court cases involving probable cause and reasonable suspicion to determine appropriate standards for individual situations. Outlines implications for public employers. Blanket drug testing is not permissable, though job applicants have…

Discusses two recent court cases highlighting the legal pitfalls facing mandatory drug testing programs for teachers and students. In both cases, the courts contended that blanket testing policies violated Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable search and seizure. Testing of individual teachers and students (under reasonable suspicion) may…

A federal district judge dismissed a suit brought by two students against a high-school principal who found marijuana in their hotel room on a senior class trip. Although the Fourth Amendment governs searches of students by school employees, employees need not have probable cause for a "reasonable" search. (MLH)

Courts generally rule against drug testing of public employees. A urine sample represents "unreasonable search" under the Fourth Amendment. Testing unreliability was illustrated in "Jones v. McKenzie." Factual, "reasonable suspicion" must exist for judicial approval. Tests do not resolve employee drug abuse;…

Provides an edited version of the Supreme Court opinions in "TLO v New Jersey." Includes an article delineating the new rules on student searches that have resulted from the court decision. A third article discusses questionable areas the Court decision left unclear. (MD)