U.S. Supreme Court Will Not Hear Case of Mandatory Drug testing of College Students

The United States Supreme Court announced today it would not hear a Missouri case where a state college violated the rights of its students by requiring them to take a drug test as a condition of their enrollment. This means that the December decision of the full Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in favor of students will stand.This case establishes – once and for all – that under the Fourth Amendment, every person has the right to be free from an unreasonable search and seizure—including college students.

June 5, 2017

EIGHTH CIRCUIT’S DECISION IN ACLU CASE STANDS THAT MISSOURI COLLEGE’S REQUIREMENT IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL

The United States Supreme Court announced today it would not hear a Missouri case where a state college violated the rights of its students by requiring them to take a drug test as a condition of their enrollment. This means that the December decision of the full Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in favor of students will stand.

This case establishes – once and for all – that under the Fourth Amendment, every person has the right to be free from an unreasonable search and seizure—including college students.

The ACLU of Missouri and the national ACLU’s Criminal Law Reform Project filed a class-action lawsuit against State Technical College of Missouri (formerly known as Linn State Technical College) on behalf of several students. The students were required to take a drug test in order to remain enrolled, even though the college had no reason to believe that the students were abusing drugs and no documented problems with drugs in the college’s 50-year history.

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