The declaration of American government to fight use of drugs such as narcotics continues to elicit different reactions across various sectors. Fourth Amendment, which warrants citizens right of privacy, reasonable searches and probable causes has been the main area of contention during case rulings. Several cases have been determined based on special needs rather than law enforcements.
Skinner V. Railway Road Association is one of the drug testing cases that was decided by Supreme Court under special needs rather than normal law enforcement (Zalman, 2010).
The railway administration issued regulations to its employees that anyone who would be involved in any accident should be screened for narcotics by carrying out urine, breath, and blood tests. The labor association felt drug screening was a violation of fourth amendment and as a result, they filed a case in the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Skinner. The majority justices ruled that the employees were endangering the lives of other people and so there was need to screen them for safety purposes. On the other hand, the dissenting justices ruled that, upholding the regulations was against the fourth amendment and thus the ruling unconstitutional.
The Essay on Fourth Amendment Supreme Court
... based on several of the already predefined amendments. In the Supreme Court Case, Gideon's vs. Connecticut, the Court ruled that the Connecticut law stating that no ... and the privacies of life." In Mapp vs. Ohio, the fourth amendment was referred to as "a right to privacy, no less ...
Consequently, Veronica School v. Acton case was determined based on special need doctrine. The facts of the case were based on drug searches, testing, and violation of the fourth amendment (Zalman, 2010).
Acton was found smoking in the school premises and as a result, the school administration ordered search of drugs in her clothes and other boxes. She was found in possession of drugs such as Marijuana. Acton felt that the search was unreasonable under the fourth amendment. However, the majority justices ruled under special need doctrine that Veronica school was right to conduct the drugs searches because the administrators were expected to maintain discipline in the school. The dissenting justices felt that the school administration had violated the fourth amendment by enforcing discipline and searches on individualized suspicion.
Reference
Zalman, M. (2010).
Criminal procedure: Constitution and society. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
