Eleventh Circuit Affirms Preliminary Injunction Against Florida’s Mandatory Drug Testing of Welfare Recipients

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From Prof. Robson of Constitutional Law Prof Blog:

In its unanimous panel opinion today in Lebron v. Sec’t Florida Dep’t of Children & Families, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a district judge’s grant of a preliminary injunction against Florida Statute §414.0652 requiring drug testing of all persons who receive public benefits.

Recall that 16 months ago, Federal District Judge Mary Scriven issued a preliminary injunction against the controversial law championed by equally controversial governor Rick Scott requiring drug testing for each individual who applies for benefits under the federally funded TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program to take a drug test, which must occur at an “approved laboratory” and be paid for by the applicant. As the Eleventh Circuit panel made clear, it was not resolving “the merits of the constitutional claim” but only addressing “whether the district court abused its discretion in concluding that Lebron is substantially likely to succeed in establishing that Florida’s drug testing regime for TANF applicants violates his Fourth Amendment rights.”

Nevertheless, the Eleventh Circuit’s opinion, authored by Judge Rosemary Barkett, left little room to argue that the statute could survive a constitutional challenge. Barkett observed that in the “specific context of government-mandated drug testing programs, the Supreme Court has exempted such programs from the Fourth Amendment’s warrant and probable cause requirement only where such testing ‘fit[s] within the closely guarded category of constitutionally permissible suspicionless searches,'” requiring that the “proffered special need for drug testing must be substantial,” citing Chandler v. Miller, 520 U.S. 305 (1997). These special needs include “the specific risk to public safety by employees engaged in inherently dangerous jobs and the protection of children entrusted to the public school system’s care and tutelag.” The Eleventh Circuit easily found that welfare recipients did not fall into a special needs category.

Full post here.

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