''Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives Association'', 489 U.S. 602 (1989), was the U.S. Supreme Court case that paved the way for random drug testing of public employees in "safety sensitive" positions.

Background

In the mid-1980s, the

Federal Railroad Administration The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) is an agency in the United States Department of Transportation (DOT). The agency was created by the Department of Transportation Act of 1966. The purpose of the FRA is to promulgate and enforce rail saf ...

(FRA) issued regulations to adopt safety standards for the railroad industry. Included in these regulations were mandatory blood and urine tests of employees involved in train accidents, to determine if they were using illegal narcotics. The FRA also adopted regulations that authorized railroads to administer breath and urine drug tests to employees who violated safety rules. The Railway Labor Executives' Association, an umbrella group of railway

trade unions A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

, sued to have the regulations declared an unconstitutional violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Decision

At face value, random drug testing appears to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects the right of citizens ''"to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures."'' In addition, the Fourth Amendment states that ''"no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."'' However, the

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 ...

ruled in ''Skinner'' that random drug testing is permissible for employees in safety sensitive positions. Justice Kennedy, speaking for the majority, wrote: The dissenting opinion by Justices Marshall and Brennan illustrates the other side of the controversy:

Special Needs Doctrine

The

United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court The United States Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), also called the FISA Court, is a U.S. federal court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) to oversee requests for surveillance warrants a ...

(FISA court) has used this ruling to expand the "

special needs doctrine The "special needs" exception is an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s general requirement that government searches be supported by a warrant and probable cause. The exception applies when (1) the government conducts programmatic searches that ...

" that carves out an exception to the Fourth Amendment for the broad collection and examination of Americans' data to track possible terrorists.

References

External links

* {{US4thAmendment, scope, state=expanded United States Supreme Court cases United States Supreme Court cases of the Rehnquist Court United States controlled substances case law United States Fourth Amendment case law United States labor case law 1989 in United States case law Drug testing

Background

Decision

Special Needs Doctrine

See also

Further reading

References

External links