The U.S. Supreme Court today rejected an appeal by the State of Louisiana to overturn an appeals court holding that mandatory drug testing for elected officials is unconstitutional.
In December, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 1998 U.S. District Court decision that found a Louisiana drug testing statute violates the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment protection against illegal search and seizure.
The Louisiana law, which would have required 10 percent of state and local officials to be randomly drug tested each year, was passed in 1997 but has never been implemented due to the legal challenge. Under the law, results of the first test would have remained private. If drugs were detected, a second test would have been conducted within six months. In the case of a second positive test for drugs, the results would have been made public and a refusal to submit to a drug test would result in a $10,000 fine and censure.
In a similar case in 1997, the Supreme Court held a Georgia law requiring candidates for statewide office to take drug tests was unconstitutional.
“The Louisiana legislature consistently spits in the face of the Constitution, and inevitably ends up wasting the taxpayers’ money in the process,” said William Rittenberg, Esq., a NORML Legal Committee attorney who challenged the Louisiana law on behalf of a state legislator.
For more information, please contact William Rittenberg, Esq., at (504) 524-5555.
