After an appeal by the Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), an international grassroots network of students concerned about the impact drug abuse has had on communities, the court has once again rejected the claim that withholding federal student aid from drug offenders is unconstitutional.
According to the 1998 Higher Education Act, students who have been convicted for having, for the first time, used drugs are to be denied federal college funding, including free aid in the form of Pell Grants, from the government for one year. The length increases to two years for a second conviction and becomes permanent after the third. For those convicted of selling drugs, the punishment is a two-year federal aid loss or, for two offenses, the permanent withholding of federal aid.
The SSDPF has complained that the double jeopardy law, one which prevents an individual from being tried twice for the same offense, makes such procedures illegal. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, Judge Kornmann disagreed with the claim stating that the law served legitimate federal interests by minimizing college drug use and preventing taxpayers from having to fund the education of drug users or sellers.
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