Question | Answer |
Probable Cause | The 4th Amendment requires that before any search can be conducted there must be probable cause. The Supreme Court has waived the probable cause requirement when the state has shown it has special need. |
Constitutional Law of Probable Cause | 1989 the U.S. Supreme Court held that state compelled collection and testing of urine constitutes a search subject to the demands of the 4th Amendment. |
Balancing Test | 1.) A legitimate privacy expectation. 2.) The character of the intrusion. 3.) The nature and immediacy of the governmental concern. |
1.) A legitimate privacy expectation | Does the individual have a legitimate privacy expectation upon which the search intrudes? |
Privacy Expectations | Privacy Expectations are different depending upon whether an individual is at home, park, car, etc. |
Character of the Intrusion | 1.) How the drug test collects samples
2.) Type of information being collected |
The nature and immediacy of the governmental concern | Is the state's interest in conducting the drug test important enough to justify intruding upon an individual's expectation of privacy. |
Consent Form | An individual can voluntarily waive his/her 4th Amendment rights and submit to a drug testing program. Can waive any right except slavery. |
Labor Law | In pro sports, drug-testing programs need to be part of the collective bargaining agreement that is negotiated between the league and the player's association. |
Vernonia vs. Acton (1995) - Issue 1 - Privacy Expectations | Privacy Expectations - Decision: Students have a lesser expectation of privacy, there is an element of "communal undress" inherent in athletic participation. |
Vernonia vs. Acton (1995) - Issue 2 - Character of Intrusion | a. conditions of test collect are nearly identical to those typically encountered in public restrooms. b. test only looked for drugs, and results were turned into school personnel and were NOT turned over to law enforcement, no invasion of privacy. |
Vernonia vs. Acton (1995) - Issue 3 - Governmental Interest | Deterring the drug use of our nation's school children deemed a compelling governmental interest. |
Other significant points of Vernonia vs. Acton (1995) | 1.) Athletes were ring leaders of the drug culture 2.) Testing based on suspicion of drug use vowed not be better but worse. |
Gruenke vs. Seir... | Pregnancy, privacy rights, duty to protect: unresolved issues in case. |
Qualified Immunity | Official immunity from damages for acts that violate another's civil rights that is granted if it can be shown that the acts do not violate cleanly established statutory or constitutional rights of which a reasonable person would be aware. |