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<p>WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court approved random drug tests for many public high school students Thursday, ruling that schools' interest in ridding their campuses of drugs outweighs an individual's right to privacy.</p> <p>The 5-4 decision would allow the broadest drug testing the court has yet permitted for young people whom authorities have no particular reason to suspect of wrongdoing. It applies to students who join competitive after-school activities or teams, a category that includes many if not most middle-school and high-school students.</p>

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/06/27/national1009EDT0551.DTL (06-27) 07:09 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Supreme Court on Thursday struck down limits on what some judicial candidates may tell voters, a landmark free speech ruling that could heat up court campaigns around the country. Nearly 40 states elect some judges, and also restrict what they say or do while campaigning to promote an image of fairness and independence for courts. The Supreme Court, in throwing out strict limits in Minnesota on a 5-4 vote, said the rules, while well-intended, impose an unconstitutional gag order. ©2002 Associated Press   more... Minnesota is one of nine states that...

This best-selling recording was performed by the legendary John Wayne. It's finally available as Duke’s spoken-word CD of poetry. It's a must-have for all patriotic Americans... Track listings: 1. Why I Love Her 2. The Pledge of allegiance 3. The Hyphen 4. Mis Raices Estan Aqui 5. The People 6. An American Boy Grows Up 7. Face the Flag 8. The Good Things 9. Why Are You Marching, Son 10. Taps

WEST VIRGINIA STATE BOARD OF EDUCATION et al. v. BARNETTE et al. No. 591. Argued March 11, 1943. Decided June 14, 1943. [319 U.S. 624, 625] On Appeal from the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of West Virginia. Mr. W. Holt Wooddell, of Webster Springs, W. Va., for appellants. Mr. Hayden C. Covington, of Brooklyn, N.Y., for appellees. Mr. Justice JACKSON delivered the opinion of the Court. Following the decision by this Court on June 3, 1940, in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, 310 U.S. 586 , 60 S.Ct. 1010, 127 A.L.R. 1493, the West...

June 22, 2002 Ruling Barring Execution of Retarded May Not Lead to Further RestrictionsBy LINDA GREENHOUSE ASHINGTON, June 21 — Despite the clarity of the Supreme Court's decision to abolish the death penalty for mentally retarded offenders, the court's next move is uncertain and the impact of the ruling on the overall death penalty debate is far from clear. While it is possible that the decision in Atkins v. Virginia marked a new direction for a court that has been notably deferential to the states on death penalty questions, it is just as likely that the decision was a singular...

High Court: Executing the Mentally Retarded Is Unconstitutional June 20 — Reversing previous rulings, the Supreme Court ruled today that executing the mentally retarded constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is therefore unconstitutional.The court's 6-3 ruling applies to mentally retarded killers and does not address the constitutionality of capital punishment in general. The justices cited a shift in public attitude toward the practice of executing mentally retarded killers since the court ruled on the issue more than a decade ago. In a 1989 opinion, the high court ruled it was not unconstitutional to execute the mentally retarded under the Eighth...

June 21, 2002 Supreme Court Finds Law on Educational Privacy Isn't Meant for IndividualsBy LINDA GREENHOUSE ASHINGTON, June 20 — The federal law that requires schools and colleges to protect the privacy of students' educational records does not establish a personal right to privacy that can be enforced in court, the Supreme Court ruled today. The 7-to-2 decision overturned a ruling by the Supreme Court of Washington and rejected the reasoning of every federal appeals court to have considered the question since Congress passed the law, usually known as the Buckley Amendment, in 1974. Writing for the majority today, Chief...

WASHINGTON, June 20 — The Constitution bars the execution of mentally retarded offenders, the Supreme Court declared today in a landmark death penalty ruling based on the majority's view that a "national consensus" now rejected such executions as excessive and inappropriate. Of the 38 states that have a death penalty, 18 now prohibit executing the retarded, up from 2 when the court last considered the question in 1989. This "dramatic shift in the state legislative landscape," especially when anticrime legislation is extremely popular, "provides powerful evidence that today our society views mentally retarded offenders as categorically less culpable than the...

Court Disallows Executing Retarded Thu Jun 20,10:37 AM ET WASHINGTON (AP) - A divided Supreme Court reversed itself Thursday and ruled that executing the mentally retarded is unconstitutionally cruel. The 6-3 ruling is confined to mentally retarded killers, and does not address the constitutionality of capital punishment in general. The majority's view reflects changes in public attitudes on the issue since the court declared such executions constitutional in 1989. Then, only two states that used capital punishment outlawed the practice for the retarded. Now, 18 states prohibit it. "It is not so much the number of these states that is...

<p>A police posse seeking to search passengers and their luggage on buses or other public transportation need not warn suspects that they have a right to refuse a search and leave, the Supreme Court ruled yesterday.</p> <p>Although one pro-police group voiced qualms about the 6-3 decision that nullified an appeals court's ground rules requiring police to warn suspects before searching for drugs and weapons, the Justice Department predicted that it will buttress anti-terrorism efforts.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Monday that an ordinance requiring Jehovah's Witnesses or other door-to-door advocates for religious or political causes to get a permit violates free-speech rights. The high court ruled for a local congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses and the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, a nonprofit publisher of church literature, in striking down the law regulating uninvited peddling and solicitation. The justices, by a 8-1 vote, ruled the ordinance in the tiny village of Stratton, Ohio, infringed on the rights of the Jehovah's Witnesses, a faith whose members go from house...

<p>Americans have grown accustomed to seeing judicial officials strike down laws and government regulations in the name of preserving adequate breathing space for expression. Again this term, which is quickly coming to an end, the U.S. Supreme Court used it judicial review powers to overturn legislative action that might "chill" expression that was far from the minds of James Madison and the other members of Congress who labored over the language of the First Amendment.</p>

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Tuesday to consider the case of a Decatur man ordered to pay child support even though DNA proves he's not the father. The court is "ignoring paternity fraud," said the plaintiff's attorney, Jeffery M. Leving of Chicago. "It's no different than ignoring DNA testing showing a convicted murderer wasn't guilty of murder." Carnell A. Smith, 41, had been paying child support to his ex-girlfriend for 11 years. Two years ago, when the court ordered him to pay more, he got a blood test that showed he was not the child's father. Smith went to court...

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court agreed Monday to referee a congressional boundary dispute from Mississippi, a victory for Democrats who are contesting a plan that helps Republicans. The case will be the first reviewed by the court over boundaries drawn using 2000 Census data. Plans by many other states also are being contested. The court did not intervene in time to affect this year's election, however. Primaries were held last week in districts favorable to Republicans approved by a federal panel earlier this year. Mississippi is losing one of its five congressional seats because of sluggish population growth in the...

WASHINGTON - Employers are not required under US civil rights laws to hire disabled workers whose mental or physical handicap might endanger their own health or safety on the job. In a major decision restricting the scope of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA), the US Supreme Court has ruled that Congress did not intend to force employers to hire workers with disabilities that might pose a direct threat to others as well as to themselves in the workplace. Instead, Congress left the issue open for interpretation by federal agencies like the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to enact regulations...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled Monday that states can limit privileges of sex offenders who won't admit to crimes as part of therapy. The 5-4 ruling, affirming a Kansas inmate rehabilitation program, could spawn similar efforts in other states. Inmates, who want to keep their privileges, may be forced into therapy and be required to admit past wrongdoing that could be used in future prosecutions, the court held. ``Sex offenders are a serious threat in this nation,'' Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority. He said states have an important interest in rehabilitating those inmates....

ASHINGTON — There are dissenting opinions at the Supreme Court, and then there are declarations of war. These days, federalism means war. The court's majority has been expanding the states' immunity from the reach of federal law for some time, and their latest such move provoked four justices into signing an unusual dissenting opinion in which they made clear that they were not simply disagreeing with the decision at hand. Rather, they were taking a public vow to remain in dissent from the majority's open-ended view of the sovereign powers of the individual states."Today's decision reaffirms the need for...

REVIEW & OUTLOOKTrial-Lawyer TrifectaAs John McCain kept telling us, campaign finance reform was going to reduce if not end special-interest influence in Washington. Perhaps the Senator forgot to tell the plaintiffs' bar, which is dominating the current Congressional session as completely as any lobby ever has.From asbestos-litigation reform to terrorism insurance to even the patients' bill of rights, the tort lawyers areblocking whatever they don't like. So great is their clout in the Senate that the lawyers are even inducing Democrats to kill their own self-professed priorities. Ed Hyman's ISI Group calls it the "trial lawyer trifecta," but even that...

The Supreme Court is set to reject a teenager's challenge, in a victory for the RightTwenty-seven million schoolchildren are facing the prospect of random drug testing after a landmark court case described by self-styled religious fundamentalist 'drug warriors' in the United States as their greatest victory. It is a startling example of the ideological shift in American politics since George W. Bush moved into the White House. The Supreme Court is expected within the next few days to rule against a teenager from the Midwest who was forced to undergo a drug test when she signed up to sing in...

The man charged by President Bush with screening potential U.S. Supreme Court justice nominees believes the Constitution is a living document and that only the nine black-robed brethren have sufficient understanding of the document to explain to the people what it means. This should be an astonishing and disturbing revelation from Judge Alberto Gonzales, counsel to the president, for all those citizens who voted for Bush primarily because they thought his Supreme Court appointments would be remarkably different and better than his opponent's. I heard Gonzales make this statement with my own ears in a private dinner meeting recently. Asked...