A federal appellate court has reinstated a judge's 2013 ruling that a central Missouri technical college's mandatory drug testing policy is unconstitutional when applied to most students.
The 9-2 ruling yesterday by the full 8th U.S. District Court of Appeals in St. Louis sided with the American Civil Liberties Union in reversing an earlier decision by a three-judge panel of that court.
That trio had overturned a federal judge's injunction barring State Technical College of Missouri — formerly Linn State Technical College — from drug screening all of its 1,200 students.
The college offers three dozen programs. Yesterday's ruling upholds the lower court's allowing of the college to drug test students in five safety-sensitive programs, including aviation maintenance and electrical-related studies.
Messages left yesterday with college administrators weren't returned.
