Victory in the state court
Excellent, excellent news today out of the Washington Supreme Court: random, suspicionless drug testing of student athletes has been held unconstitutional under the state constitution's Article I, section 7, which protects Washingtonians' privacy from lawless, unreasonable invasion by the state.
Congratulations to Aaron Caplan at the ACLU-WA and to all who worked hard on this case to protect the privacy rights of Washingtonians, even under-18 Washingtonians, who, being children, are generally regarded as second-class citizens. (Indeed, Justice J. Johnson's weird concurrence points out from the beginning that "the rights of minors are not coextensive with those of adults.") The court clearly rejected the "special needs" argument brought by the school district, which is usually a talismanic phrase for justifying whatever privacy and free expression restrictions K-12 schools want to impose on their inmates students.
Constitutional rights don't end at the schoolhouse gate.
Congratulations to Aaron Caplan at the ACLU-WA and to all who worked hard on this case to protect the privacy rights of Washingtonians, even under-18 Washingtonians, who, being children, are generally regarded as second-class citizens. (Indeed, Justice J. Johnson's weird concurrence points out from the beginning that "the rights of minors are not coextensive with those of adults.") The court clearly rejected the "special needs" argument brought by the school district, which is usually a talismanic phrase for justifying whatever privacy and free expression restrictions K-12 schools want to impose on their inmates students.
Constitutional rights don't end at the schoolhouse gate.