Supreme Court may consider Florida drug testing law

Three years ago, Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed an executive order requiring all state employees to undergo across-the-board drug tests. Since then, the order has gone to court, with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) — alongside the American Civil Liberties Union — arguing that the order ignores the 4^th Amendment, which requires probable cause before conducting searches and seizures. The 11^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reviewed the case in 2013, and ruled that the law could not be constitutional for all 85,000 workers that the law requires to be tested under the order. It sent the case to another court to determine which employees should be eligible to be tested under the law. Attorneys who want the order thrown out have argued that, in order to conduct across-the-board drug tests on state employees without suspecting them of drug usage, there needs to be proof that an employee’s sobriety can affect his or her job safety and the safety of others. The case is poised for review by the U.S. Supreme Court, to determine whether the drug-testing plan is constitutional, based on its broad scope. Scott filed a petition in January asking the Supreme Court to review the case, and argued that the lower courts were “deeply divided” and had not been able to resolve their conflicts. “The constitutionally of Florida’s drug testing policy is not only unsettled — it is an important issue the court should decide now. The Eleventh Circuit has intruded upon Florida’s sovereign right to ensure the general welfare of its citizens and regulate its workforce,” the petition read. The AFSCME filed a brief in March opposing the decision to take the case to the Supreme Court, claiming that the court’s supposed “division” is misleading.]]>