MIAMI, Florida -- The 11th
Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a Florida law mandating
that all applicants for the state’s temporary cash assistance program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families (TANF) submit to drug tests violates the 4th Amendment’s protection against unreasonable government searches.
“Of course, citizens do not abandon all hope of privacy by applying for
government assistance. By virtue of poverty, TANF applicants are not
stripped of their legitimate expectations of privacy — they are not
employees in dangerous vocations or students subject to the parens patriae
power of the state," the Court of Appeals ruled. "...the collection and testing of urine intrudes
upon expectations of privacy that society has long recognized as
reasonable.”
Today’s ruling is the fourth time the law has been rejected by a federal court since it was
challenged by the ACLU of Florida on behalf of Luis Lebron, a
single father, Navy veteran, and then-college student. In
October 2011, U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven enjoined enforcement of
the law by entering a preliminary injunction. Governor Scott appealed
that injunction, which was upheld by the 11th Circuit in February 2013. Judge Scriven issued a final judgment in December 2013, and the State appealed that ruling to the 11th Circuit as well.
“The 11th Circuit has affirmed that the 4th Amendment
applies to everyone, even those applying for government assistance”
stated Randall Berg, Executive Director of the Florida Justice Institute
and co-counsel with the ACLU. “The same rationale for requiring
suspicionless drug tests of TANF recipients could be used to require
suspicionless searches for any kind of government benefit, whether it is
social security, farm subsidies, or student scholarships. Today, the
court has rejected that rationale, drawing a clear line that will keep
us from going down that slippery slope.”
