| Board of Education v. Earls | ||||||
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Supreme Court of the United States |
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| Argued March 19, 2002 Decided June 27, 2002 |
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| Full case name | Board of Education of Independent School District of Pottawatomie County et al. v. Earls et al. | |||||
| Holding | ||||||
| Coercive drug testing imposed by school district upon students who participate in extracurricular activities does not violate the Fourth Amendment. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
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| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Thomas, joined by Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy, Breyer | |||||
| Concurrence | Breyer | |||||
| Dissent | O'Connor, joined by Souter | |||||
| Dissent | Ginsburg, joined by Stevens, O'Connor, Souter | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| U.S. Const. amend. IV | ||||||
Board of Education v. Earls, 536 U.S. 822 (2002), was a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States that upheld the constitutionality of mandatory drug testing by public schools of students participating in extracurricular activities. The legal challenge to the practice 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.
In a majority opinion delivered by Justice Clarence Thomas, the Court 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. Justice Stephen Breyer filed an opinion concurring in the Court's judgment.