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Abstract

This Note analyzes the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Board of Education of Independent School District No. 92 of Pottawatomie County v. Earls and its implication for the future of the Fourth Amendment and drug testing. Part II of this Note documents the history and the expansion of the “special needs” doctrine, and illustrates how the doctrine has whittled away high school and middle school students’ Fourth Amendment guarantees. Part III of this Note introduces the parties and gives a picture of the circumstances surrounding the Earls case. Part III then discusses the District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma, the Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, and Supreme Court decisions in this significant case. Part IV scrutinizes the Supreme Court’s application of the “special needs” doctrine in allowing public schools to drug test students wishing to participate in extracurricular activities. Lastly, Part V of this Note suggests possible consequences of the Supreme Court’s decision and the potential dangerous effect it will have on Fourth Amendment rights.

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