High Court Accepts Background-Check Case

Federal Contractors Argue Violation of Privacy Rights; AERA Keeps Eye on Issue

In a case being watched by some in education, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed last week to step into a debate over whether extensive background checks for federal contractors violate an individual’s “informational privacy.”

In other action March 8, the justices declined to hear an appeal from the Boston Teachers Union over a state court injunction requiring union leaders to disavow the union’s call for a vote on a one-day strike.

In the privacy case, the justices accepted an appeal from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration over a government-wide policy of requiring extensive background checks for...