Behind Open Doors: Constitutional Implications of Government Employee Drug Testing

• NCJ Number: 106919
• Journal: Nova Law Review Volume: 11 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1987) Pages: 307-370
• Author(s): P T Bookspan
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 64 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Legislation/Policy Analysis
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This article examines whether drug testing of public employees violates constitutional guarantees of individual rights and liberties.

Abstract

An historical analysis of privacy rights is the backdrop for a discussion of current constitutional interpretations of the fourth, fifth, and ninth amendments. The article considers whether drug testing violates the warrant clause and unreasonable search and seizure clauses of the fourth amendment, whether it abrogates the due process rights to liberty and property of the fifth and fourteenth amendments, and whether it impacts upon general constitutional privacy as developed in the ninth amendment and penumbras. This article concludes that President Reagan's proposed drug testing program for Federal employees does not meet these constitutional parameters for government action. Legally permissible conditions for the drug testing of public employees must include individualized suspicion as a prerequisite for testing, rigorous safeguards to ensure testing accuracy and reliability, and confidential test results. 298 footnotes.