Judge Limits Drug Tests on Stanford Athletes

The National Collegiate Athletic Assn. will be limited to testing Stanford football and basketball players only for amphetamines, anabolic steroids and cocaine, a judge ruled Friday.

The NCAA also must change its procedures for the postseason tests so that athletes are not required to urinate while being watched by monitors, Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Conrad Rushing ruled.

The judge reaffirmed his finding that the manner of testing, with people watching the athletes urinate, violates the athletes’ right to privacy as guaranteed by the California Constitution.

However, he dropped a finding that the tests also violated the U.S. Constitution, thereby preventing the NCAA from appealing the case to a federal court. The NCAA can appeal, though, to higher California courts.

Rushing had ruled Nov. 19 that the NCAA could not test Stanford athletes in 26 sports. He allowed testing in basketball and football because of evidence of drug use in those sports.

“We are very gratified by the results and by the ruling but we’re disappointed that it doesn’t apply to every single Stanford athlete in every single sport and every single drug,” said attorney Robert Van Nest, who represented two Stanford students opposing the tests.

The NCAA sought to retain its list of more than 3,000 banned drugs and modify it only by deleting the phrase “related compounds” after Rushing’s earlier ruling that the tests were too broad and violated the students’ constitutional rights of privacy.

At Friday’s hearing, Rushing asked the two sides to resolve their differences for a testing plan for football and basketball. When that didn’t work during a brief recess, the judge issued a ruling limiting the tests to amphetamines, cocaine and anabolic steroids.

Rushing then asked the two sides to settle his order and submit a compromise plan for his signature, probably within the next two weeks.