Your Daily Josh

I have been thinking about how schools kick their students in the pants in terms of constitutional rights and this is another such classic example.  We’re talking about an invasion of someone’s privacy without the reason of suspicion for justification.  A case similar to this was already decided in 1985, in the Supreme Court of Washington case Kuehn v. Renton School District (read that here).  In that case, Hazen High School wanted to search every member’s luggage of a band ensemble attending a field trip for the possession of drugs and alcohol and it was determined that Renton School District had overstepped it’s boundaries and was misusing it’s power over students.  Though the premise is laudable, the action was not justified.  In both cases, the high schools argued that they gave prior notice and argued that the events were optional but by mandating that an alcohol test as a precondition to attend makes a mockery of the fourth amendment right we as Americans enjoy.