648
Opinion of the Court
Thomas M. Christ argued the cause for respondents. With him on the brief were John A. Wittmayer and Steven R. Shapiro.*
Justice Scalia delivered the opinion of the Court. The Student Athlete Drug Policy adopted by School District 47J in the town of Vernonia, Oregon, authorizes random urinalysis drug testing of students who participate in the District's school athletics programs. We granted certiorari to decide whether this violates the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
I
A
Petitioner Vernonia School District 47J (District) operates one high school and three grade schools in the logging community of Vernonia, Oregon. As elsewhere in small-town America, school sports play a prominent role in the town's life, and student athletes are admired in their schools and in the community.
Drugs had not been a major problem in Vernonia schools. In the mid-to-late 1980's, however, teachers and administrators observed a sharp increase in drug use. Students began to speak out about their attraction to the drug culture, and to boast that there was nothing the school could do about it. Along with more drugs came more disciplinary problems.
*Briefs of amici curiae urging reversal were filed for the American Alliance for Rights & Responsibilities by Steven P. Fulton and Robert Teir; for the California Interscholastic Federation by Andrew Patterson; for the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation by Kent S. Scheidegger and Charles L. Hobson; for the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace by Benjamin W. Hahn; for the National League of Cities et al. by Richard Ruda and Lee Fennell; for the National School Boards Association by Gwendolyn H. Gregory, August W. Steinhilber, and Thomas A. Shannon; for Paradise Valley Unified School District No. 69 by Thomas C. Horne; and for the Washington Legal Foundation et al. by Richard K. Willard, Daniel J. Popeo, and David A. Price.
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