History of the Pottawatomie Case
The Supreme Court revisits its decision in Vernonia v. Acton
Issues of personal privacy and application of Fourth Amendment safeguards against "unreasonable" governmental searches and seizures are the focus of judicial challenges to the constitutionality of "suspicionless" random drug-testing of public school students. Generally speaking, governmental actors are required by the Fourth Amendment to obtain warrants based on probable cause in order to effectuate constitutional searches and seizure. An exception to ordinary warrant requirements has gradually evolved, however, for cases where a "special need" of the government, not related to criminal law enforcement, is found by the courts to outweigh any "diminished expectation" of privacy invaded by the search. The…
