Court Takes Drinking Age-Road Funds Case

The Supreme Court today agreed to decide whether some federal highway money may be withheld from states that fail to adopt a minimum drinking age of 21.

The justices said they will hear arguments by South Dakota authorities that such a federal law unconstitutionally weakens state powers.

Congress in 1984 passed a law requiring the secretary of transportation to withhold part of the federal money otherwise available to a state for highway construction if the state permits “the purchase or public possession . . . of any alcoholic beverage” by someone under 21.

The law is aimed at reducing drunk driving by teen-agers, a major cause of death among that age group.

Highway Money at Stake

Under the law, those states with a minimum drinking age under 21 stand to lose 5% of the highway funds otherwise due for fiscal year 1987 and 10% of such funds during fiscal year 1988.

States that subsequently adopt a 21-year minimum drinking age may be entitled to recoup withheld funds.

South Dakota sued Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Hanford Dole shortly after the law was enacted in an effort to block any reduction in funds.

The state permits people 19 and 20 years old to purchase and publicly possess beer containing a low percentage of alcohol.

Lawsuit Dismissed

U.S. District Judge Andrew Bogue of Rapid City, S.D., dismissed the state’s lawsuit, and the dismissal was upheld last May 21 by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In other cases today the Supreme Court:

--Allowed states to require drug and alcohol tests for people involved in thoroughbred horse racing. The court, without comment, rejected an appeal by five well-known jockeys who said Breathalyzer and urine tests required by New Jersey racing officials violate their constitutional rights.

--Rejected the appeal of a Hollywood movie studio that lost a trademark battle to a Japanese video game company. The court let stand a ruling that Universal City Studios must pay $1.5 million to Nintendo Company of Japan. Universal lost a federal lawsuit that charged Nintendo with infringing the movie company’s King Kong trademark by marketing the hit video game, Donkey Kong.

--Cleared the way for deportation to the Soviet Union of Karl Linnas, who is under a death sentence there for running a World War II Nazi concentration camp.

--Turned down the appeal of mass murderer Kwan Fai (Willie) Mak, sentenced to death for the 1983 slayings of 13 people at a gambling club in Seattle’s Chinatown.