Federal judge rules Florida's mandatory drug tests for welfare unconstitutional.

Federal judge rules Fla. welfare drug testing law unconstitutional
Florida Gov. Rick Scott has promised to appeal the judge's ruling
Elias Isquith, Salon
Thursday, Jan 2, 2014 4:40 PM UTC

(Credit: AP Photo/Steve Cannon)

U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven ruled on Tuesday that Florida’s 2011 change to its welfare program, which mandates recipients undergo drug testing, violates the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable search and seizure and is thus unconstitutional.

In a scathing, 30-page decision, Scriven says “there is no set of circumstances under which the warrantless, suspicionless drug testing at issue in this case could be constitutionally applied.” She went on to dismiss the arguments put forward by lawyers for the state, writing, “In sum, there simply is no competent evidence offered on this record of the sort of pervasive drug problem the State envisioned in the promulgation of this statute.”

Despite the setback, Florida’s Republican governor, Rick Scott, vowed to appeal Scriven’s ruling....