Ferguson v. City of Charleston — Scalia, J., Dissenting

Summary

Justice Scalia, dissenting, would have held that the collection, testing, and reporting of the urine samples did not violate the Fourth Amendment because the samples were voluntarily provided and the reporting of information entrusted to medical personnel was not itself a search. Alternatively, he would have upheld the program under the special-needs doctrine because it served medical purposes independent of law enforcement, even though police later used the results. Justice Kennedy, concurring in the judgment, agreed that the program was unconstitutional but would have relied on the substantial law-enforcement role in designing and implementing it, while reserving the consent issue.