''National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab'', 489 U.S. 656 (1989), was a

United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...

case involving the Fourth Amendment and its implication on

drug test A drug test is a technical analysis of a biological specimen, for example urine, hair, blood, breath, sweat, or oral fluid/saliva—to determine the presence or absence of specified parent drugs or their metabolites. Major applications of dr ...

ing programs. The majority of the Court upheld the drug testing program in the

United States Customs Service The United States Customs Service was the very first federal law enforcement agency of the U.S. federal government. Established on July 31, 1789, it collected import tariffs, performed other selected border security duties, as well as conducted c ...

Background

In 1986, the U.S. Customs Service imposed a drug testing program for " employees seeking transfer or promotion to positions having direct involvement in drug

interdiction Interdiction is a military term for the act of delaying, disrupting, or destroying enemy forces or supplies en route to the battle area. A distinction is often made between strategic and tactical interdiction. The former refers to operations whose ...

," required to carry firearms, or have access to classified information. The National Treasury Employees Union sued and alleged that the program was violative of the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable

search and seizure Search and seizure is a procedure used in many civil law and common law legal systems by which police or other authorities and their agents, who, suspecting that a crime has been committed, commence a search of a person's property and confisca ...

. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled in favor of the government. The union then appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals ruling with regard to positions involving drug interdiction and firearms. The ruling for classified information was held over, as the Supreme Court determined that the U.S. Customs Service too broadly included employee groups who would not generally have access to high levels of classified information.

Opinion of the Court

The Supreme Court upheld the Court of Appeals ruling with regard to positions involving drug interdiction and firearms. The ruling for classified information was held over, as the Supreme Court determined that the U.S. Customs Service too broadly included employee groups who would not generally have access to high levels of classified information. The majority decision authored by

Justice Kennedy Anthony McLeod Kennedy (born July 23, 1936) is an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirem ...

upheld the constitutionality of the drug testing program, reasoning that Customs employees had a "diminished expectation of privacy." Justice Marshall wrote a dissent in which he was joined by Justice Brennan;

Justice Scalia Antonin Gregory Scalia (; March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectua ...

wrote a dissent in which Justice Stevens joined.

External links

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National Drug Testing Laws & Guidelines
{{US4thAmendment, warrantexceptions, state=expanded 1989 in United States case law United States controlled substances case law United States Fourth Amendment case law United States public employment trade union case law United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court Drug testing

Background

Opinion of the Court

See also

External links