Judge Strikes Down Drug Testing Law

The U.S. District Court handed Gov. Rick Scott a defeat on Dec. 31 when it struck down a law requiring drug screening of welfare recipients unconstitutional.The Miami Herald reported in a article titled "Scott vows to fight drug-test ruling" that federal judge Mary Scriven granted summary judgment on behalf of Luis Lebron, who at the outset of the 2011 case was a 35-year-old Navy veteran, college student and single father from Orlando. Lebron refused to submit to a drug test arguing that requiring him to pay for and submit to one is unreasonable when there is no reason to believe he uses drugs. Lebron was represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida The judge rules that the mandatory urine drug test violate the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches.In her ruling judge Scriven relied heavily on the 11th Circuit of Appeals opinion which cited previous U.S. Supreme Court rulings that restricted mandatory urine drug tests by government agencies to employees working at dangerous jobs or in jobs where school children were involved. Scott signed a law in 2011 to drug test recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. But the court issued a preliminary injunction a few months later. While the law was in effect from July through October 2011, about 2.6 percent -- or 108 of 4,046 people -- tested positive for drugs, the most common being marijuana. In my opinion an appeal will be an exercise in futility and a waste of precious tax payers money.