The decision by the nation’s highest court means that the ruling by the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals finding the plan unconstitutional stands. The governor had issued an executive order in March 2011 directing all state agencies to drug test new hires and randomly test current employees. But that order was challenged by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Council 79, representing state workers. The union argued that random drug testing was a violation of the Fourth Amendment’s proscription against unreasonable searches and seizures. In its decision, the 11th Circuit generally agreed with the union, finding the suspicionless drug tests unconstitutional, but also ordered the state and the union to determine which state employees could be subjected to such testing.
