The Supreme Court has had a lasting impact on the lives of many citizens of the United Sates of America. In 1995 the Supreme Court had a very interesting case brought before them, the Acton vs. Vernonia School District case. The major issue of this case was random drug testing of students involved in school activities. The Acton family felt that the fourth and fourteenth amendments in the Constitution were being violated. .
James Acton was in seventh grade in the Vernonia School District and wanted to play football. The Vernonia School District has a policy that all students on a sports team must participate in a random drug testing. These tests would be taken at random to 10% of the team every week. Before these drug tests could be done, the student and the student's family had to sign a consent form that okayed the drug testing. When James brought this form home, his parents and he came to the decision of not signing it. They felt it was a violation of his privacy since the school had no reason to suspect James of using any type of drugs. The Acton family set up an appointment with the principal at James" school to discuss this random drug testing. At this meeting the Acton family voiced their opinions, but in the end the principal still said that if this consent form was not signed James could not play football. After this meeting the Acton family decided to call the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The ACLU is known for handling cases that have to do with the violations of civil rights. The ACLU assigned their case to Thomas M. Christ. James could not file a lawsuit in his own name since he was a minor, so Christ filed the suit naming the plaintiffs as Wayne and Judy Acton. The lawsuit was filed on November 4th, 1991 against the Vernonia School District in the District of Oregon Court. The Acton's complaint stated that they wanted the court to rule that the drug testing policy at the Vernonia School District violated the student's rights under the 4th amendment in the United States Constitution.