Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/489/602/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 04:41:15+00:00

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Upon the basis of evidence indicating that alcohol and drug abuse by railroad employees had caused or contributed to a number of significant train accidents, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) promulgated regulations under petitioner Secretary of Transportation's statutory authority to adopt safety standards for the industry. Among other things, Subpart C of the regulations requires railroads to see that blood and urine tests of covered employees are conducted following certain major train accidents or incidents, while Subpart D authorizes, but does not require, railroads to administer breath or urine tests, or both, to covered employees who violate certain safety rules. Respondents, the Railway Labor Executives' Association and various of its member labor organizations, brought suit in the Federal District Court to enjoin the regulations. The court granted summary judgment for petitioners, concluding that the regulations did not violate the Fourth Amendment. The Court of Appeals reversed, ruling, inter alia, that a requirement of particularized suspicion is essential to a finding that toxicological testing of railroad employees is reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. The court stated that such a requirement would ensure that the tests, which reveal the presence of drug metabolites that may remain in the body for weeks following ingestion, are confined to the detection of current impairment.
1. The Fourth Amendment is applicable to the drug and alcohol testing mandated or authorized by the FRA regulations. Pp. 489 U. S. 613-618.
the regulations preempt state laws covering the same subject matter, and are intended to supersede collective bargaining and arbitration award provisions, the Government has removed all legal barriers to the testing authorized by Subpart D. Moreover, by conferring upon the FRA the right to receive biological samples and test results procured by railroads, Subpart D makes plain a strong preference for testing and a governmental desire to share the fruits of such intrusions. In addition, the regulations mandate that railroads not bargain away their Subpart D testing authority, and provide that an employee who refuses to submit to such tests must be withdrawn from covered service. Pp. 489 U. S. 614-616.
(b) The collection and subsequent analysis of the biological samples required or authorized by the regulations constitute searches of the person subject to the Fourth Amendment. This Court has long recognized that a compelled intrusion into the body for blood to be tested for alcohol content, and the ensuing chemical analysis, constitute searches. Similarly, subjecting a person to the breath test authorized by Subpart D must be deemed a search, since it requires the production of "deep lung" breath, and thereby implicates concerns about bodily integrity. Moreover, although the collection and testing of urine under the regulations do not entail any intrusion into the body, they nevertheless constitute searches, since they intrude upon expectations of privacy as to medical information and the act of urination that society has long recognized as reasonable. Even if the employer's antecedent interference with the employee's freedom of movement cannot be characterized as an independent Fourth Amendment seizure, any limitation on that freedom that is necessary to obtain the samples contemplated by the regulations must be considered in assessing the intrusiveness of the searches affected by the testing program. Pp. 489 U. S. 616-618.
2. The drug and alcohol tests mandated or authorized by the FRA regulations are reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, even though there is no requirement of a warrant or a reasonable suspicion that any particular employee may be impaired, since, on the present record, the compelling governmental interests served by the regulations outweigh employees' privacy concerns. Pp. 489 U. S. 618-633.
(a) The Government's interest in regulating the conduct of railroad employees engaged in safety-sensitive tasks in order to ensure the safety of the traveling public and of the employees themselves plainly justifies prohibiting such employees from using alcohol or drugs while on duty or on call for duty and the exercise of supervision to assure that the restrictions are in fact observed. That interest presents "special needs" beyond normal law enforcement that may justify departures from the usual warrant and probable cause requirements. Pp. 489 U. S. 618-621.
(b) Imposing a warrant requirement in the present context is not essential to render the intrusions at issue reasonable. Such a requirement would do little to further the purposes of a warrant, since both the circumstances justifying toxicological testing and the permissible limits of such intrusions are narrowly and specifically defined by the regulations, and doubtless are well known to covered employees, and since there are virtually no facts for a neutral magistrate to evaluate, in light of the standardized nature of the tests and the minimal discretion vested in those charged with administering the program. Moreover, imposing a warrant requirement would significantly hinder, and in many cases frustrate, the objectives of the testing program, since the delay necessary to procure a warrant could result in the destruction of valuable evidence, in that alcohol and drugs are eliminated from the bloodstream at a constant rate, and since the railroad supervisors who set the testing process in motion have little familiarity with the intricacies of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. Pp. 489 U. S. 621-624.
that a particular employee is impaired is impracticable in the chaotic aftermath of an accident, when it is difficult to determine which employees contributed to the occurrence and objective indicia of impairment are absent. The Court of Appeals' conclusion that the regulations are unreasonable because the tests in question cannot measure current impairment is flawed. Even if urine test results disclosed nothing more specific than the recent use of controlled substances, this information would provide the basis for a further investigation, and might allow the FRA to reach an informed judgment as to how the particular accident occurred. More importantly, the court overlooked the FRA's policy of placing principal reliance on blood tests, which unquestionably can identify recent drug use, and failed to recognize that the regulations are designed not only to discern impairment, but to deter it. Pp. 489 U. S. 624-632.
The Federal Railroad Safety Act of 1970 authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to "prescribe, as necessary, appropriate rules, regulations, orders, and standards for all areas of railroad safety." 84 Stat. 971, 45 U.S.C. § 431(a). Finding that alcohol and drug abuse by railroad employees poses a serious threat to safety, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) has promulgated regulations that mandate blood and urine tests of employees who are involved in certain train accidents. The FRA also has adopted regulations that do not require, but do authorize, railroads to administer breath and urine tests to employees who violate certain safety rules. The question presented by this case is whether these regulations violate the Fourth Amendment.
embodied in "Rule G," an industry-wide operating rule promulgated by the Association of American Railroads, and are enforced, in various formulations, by virtually every railroad in the country. The customary sanction for Rule G violations is dismissal.
"the nation's railroads experienced at least 21 significant train accidents involving alcohol or drug use as a probable cause or contributing factor,"
"resulted in 25 fatalities, 61 non-fatal injuries, and property damage estimated at $19 million (approximately $27 million in 1982 dollars)."
"an additional 17 fatalities to operating employees working on or around rail rolling stock that involved alcohol or drugs as a contributing factor."
Ibid. In light of these problems, the FRA solicited comments from interested parties on a various regulatory approaches to the problems of alcohol and drug abuse throughout the Nation's railroad system.
"suggest[ed] that the problem includ[ed] 'pockets' of drinking and drug use involving multiple crew members (before and during work), sporadic cases of individuals reporting to work impaired, and repeated drinking and drug use by individual employees who are chemically or psychologically dependent on those substances."
"identified 34 fatalities, 66 injuries and over $28 million in property damage (in 1983 dollars) that resulted from the errors of alcohol and drug-impaired employees in 45 train accidents and train incidents during the period 1975 through 1983."
Id. at 24254. Some of these accidents resulted in the release of hazardous materials and, in one case, the ensuing pollution required the evacuation of an entire Louisiana community. Id. at 24254, 24259. In view of the obvious safety hazards of drug and alcohol use by railroad employees, the FRA announced, in June, 1984, its intention to promulgate federal regulations on the subject.
impaired by, alcohol, while having a blood alcohol concentration of .04 or more, or while under the influence of, or impaired by, any controlled substance. § 219.101(a)(2). The regulations do not restrict, however, a railroad's authority to impose an absolute prohibition on the presence of alcohol or any drug in the body fluids of persons in its employ, § 219.101(c), and, accordingly, they do not "replace Rule G or render it unenforceable." 50 Fed.Reg. 31538 (1985).
"shall take all practicable steps to assure that all covered employees of the railroad directly involved . . . provide blood and urine samples for toxicological testing by FRA,"
§ 219.203(a), upon the occurrence of certain specified events. Toxicological testing is required following a "major train accident," which is defined as any train accident that involves (i) a fatality, (ii) the release of hazardous material accompanied by an evacuation or a reportable injury, or (iii) damage to railroad property of $500,000 or more. § 219.201 (a)(1). The railroad has the further duty of collecting blood and urine samples for testing after an "impact accident," which is defined as a collision that results in a reportable injury, or in damage to railroad property of $50,000 or more. § 219.201(a)(2). Finally, the railroad is also obligated to test after "[a]ny train incident that involves a fatality to any on-duty railroad employee." § 219.201(a)(3).
"positive urine test, taken with specific information on the pattern of elimination for the particular drug and other information on the behavior of the employee and the circumstances of the accident, may be crucial to the determination of"
the cause of an accident. Ibid.
service for nine months, but they are entitled to a hearing concerning their refusal to take the test. § 219.213.
Subpart D of the regulations, which is entitled "Authorization to Test for Cause," is permissive. It authorizes railroads to require covered employees to submit to breath or urine tests in certain circumstances not addressed by Subpart C. Breath or urine tests, or both, may be ordered (1) after a reportable accident or incident, where a supervisor has a "reasonable suspicion" that an employee's acts or omissions contributed to the occurrence or severity of the accident or incident, § 219.301(b)(2); or (2) in the event of certain specific rule violations, including noncompliance with a signal and excessive speeding, § 219.301(b)(3). A railroad also may require breath tests where a supervisor has a "reasonable suspicion" that an employee is under the influence of alcohol, based upon specific, personal observations concerning the appearance, behavior, speech, or body odors of the employee. § 219.301(b)(1). Where impairment is suspected, a railroad, in addition, may require urine tests, but only if two supervisors make the appropriate determination, § 219.301(c)(2)(i), and, where the supervisors suspect impairment due to a substance other than alcohol, at least one of those supervisors must have received specialized training in detecting the signs of drug intoxication, § 219.301(c)(2)(ii).
procedures for the collection of samples, and require that samples "be analyzed by a method that is reliable within known tolerances." § 219.307(b).
"public and governmental interest in the . . . promotion of . . . railway safety, safety for employees, and safety for the general public that is involved with the transportation."
Id. at 52a. The District Court found respondents' other constitutional and statutory arguments meritless.
"agre[ed] that the exigencies of testing for the presence of alcohol and drugs in blood, urine or breath require prompt action which precludes obtaining a warrant."
"that accommodation of railroad employees' privacy interest with the significant safety concerns of the government does not require adherence to a probable cause requirement,"
and, accordingly, that the legality of the searches contemplated by the FRA regulations depends on their reasonableness under all the circumstances. Id. at 587.
"the metabolites of various drugs, which are not evidence of current intoxication and may remain in the body for days or weeks after the ingestion of the drug."
Id. at 588-589. Except for the provisions authorizing breath and urine tests on a "reasonable suspicion" of drug or alcohol impairment, 49 CFR §§ 219.301(b)(1) and (c)(2) (1987), the FRA regulations did not require a showing of individualized suspicion, and, accordingly, the court invalidated them.
Judge Alarcon dissented. He criticized the majority for "fail[ing] to engage in [a] balancing of interests" and for focusing instead "solely on the degree of impairment of the workers' privacy interests." 839 F.2d at 597. The dissent would have held "that the government's compelling need to assure railroad safety by controlling drug use among railway personnel outweighs the need to protect privacy interests." Id. at 596.
We granted the federal parties' petition for a writ of certiorari, 486 U.S. 1042 (1988), to consider whether the regulations invalidated by the Court of Appeals violate the Fourth Amendment. We now reverse.
"[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated. . . ."
and invasive acts by officers of the Government or those acting at their direction. Camara v. Municipal Court of San Francisco, 387 U. S. 523, 387 U. S. 528 (1967). See also Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U. S. 648, 440 U. S. 653-654 (1979); United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U. S. 543, 428 U. S. 554 (1976). Before we consider whether the tests in question are reasonable under the Fourth Amendment, we must inquire whether the tests are attributable to the Government or its agents, and whether they amount to searches or seizures. We turn to those matters.
Although the Fourth Amendment does not apply to a search or seizure, even an arbitrary one, effected by a private party on his own initiative, the Amendment protects against such intrusions if the private party acted as an instrument or agent of the Government. See United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U. S. 109, 466 U. S. 113-114 (1984); Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U. S. 443, 403 U. S. 487 (1971). See also Burdeau v. McDowell, 256 U. S. 465, 256 U. S. 475 (1921). A railroad that complies with the provisions of Subpart C of the regulations does so by compulsion of sovereign authority, and the lawfulness of its acts is controlled by the Fourth Amendment. Petitioners contend, however, that the Fourth Amendment is not implicated by Subpart D of the regulations, as nothing in Subpart D compels any testing by private railroads.
at 403 U. S. 487. The fact that the Government has not compelled a private party to perform a search does not, by itself, establish that the search is a private one. Here, specific features of the regulations combine to convince us that the Government did more than adopt a passive position toward the underlying private conduct.
"authority . . . is conferred for the purpose of promoting the public safety, and a railroad may not shackle itself in a way inconsistent with its duty to promote the public safety."
50 Fed.Reg. 31552 (1985). Nor is a covered employee free to decline his employer's request to submit to breath or urine tests under the conditions set forth in Subpart D. See § 219.11(b). An employee who refuses to submit to the tests must be withdrawn from covered service. See 4 App. to Field Manual 18.
and participation, and suffice to implicate the Fourth Amendment.
Our precedents teach that where, as here, the Government seeks to obtain physical evidence from a person, the Fourth Amendment may be relevant at several levels. See, e.g., United States v. Dionisio, 410 U. S. 1, 410 U. S. 8 (1973). The initial detention necessary to procure the evidence may be a seizure of the person, Cupp v. Murphy, 412 U. S. 291, 412 U. S. 294-295 (1973); Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U. S. 721, 394 U. S. 726-727 (1969), if the detention amounts to a meaningful interference with his freedom of movement. INS v. Delgado, 466 U. S. 210, 466 U. S. 215 (1984); United States v. Jacobsen, supra, at 466 U. S. 113, n. 5. Obtaining and examining the evidence may also be a search, see Cupp v. Murphy, supra, at 412 U. S. 295; United States v. Dionisio, supra, at 410 U. S. 8, 410 U. S. 13-14, if doing so infringes an expectation of privacy that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable, see, e.g., California v. Greenwood, 486 U. S. 35, 486 U. S. 43 (1988); United States v. Jacobsen, supra, at 466 U. S. 113.
We have long recognized that a "compelled intrusio[n] into the body for blood to be analyzed for alcohol content" must be deemed a Fourth Amendment search. See Schmerber v. California, 384 U. S. 757, 384 U. S. 767-768 (1966). See also Winston v. Lee, 470 U. S. 753, 470 U. S. 760 (1985). In light of our society's concern for the security of one's person, see, e.g., Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, 392 U. S. 9 (1968), it is obvious that this physical intrusion, penetrating beneath the skin, infringes an expectation of privacy that society is prepared to recognize as reasonable. The ensuing chemical analysis of the sample to obtain physiological data is a further invasion of the tested employee's privacy interests. Cf. Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U. S. 321, 480 U. S. 324-325 (1987). Much the same is true of the breath-testing procedures required under Subpart D of the regulations. Subjecting a person to a breathalyzer test, which generally requires the production of alveolar or "deep lung" breath for chemical analysis, see, e.g., 467 U. S.
Trombetta, 467 U. S. 479, 467 U. S. 481 (1984), implicates similar concerns about bodily integrity and, like the blood-alcohol test we considered in Schmerber, should also be deemed a search, see 1 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure § 2.6(a), p. 463 (1987). See also Burnett v. Anchorage, 806 F.2d 1447, 1449 (CA9 1986); Shoemaker v. Handel, 795 F.2d 1136, 1141 (CA3), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 986 (1986).
"There are few activities in our society more personal or private than the passing of urine. Most people describe it by euphemisms, if they talk about it at all. It is a function traditionally performed without public observation; indeed, its performance in public is generally prohibited by law, as well as social custom."
In view of our conclusion that the collection and subsequent analysis of the requisite biological samples must be deemed Fourth Amendment searches, we need not characterize the employer's antecedent interference with the employee's freedom of movement as an independent Fourth Amendment seizure. As our precedents indicate, not every governmental interference with an individual's freedom of movement raises such constitutional concerns that there is a seizure of the person. See United States v. Dionisio, 410 U.S. at 410 U. S. 9-11 (grand jury subpoena, though enforceable by contempt, does not effect a seizure of the person); United States v. Mara, 410 U. S. 19, 410 U. S. 21 (1973) (same). For present purposes, it suffices to note that any limitation on an employee's freedom of movement that is necessary to obtain the blood, urine, or breath samples contemplated by the regulations must be considered in assessing the intrusiveness of the searches effected by the Government's testing program. Cf. United States v. Place, 462 U. S. 696, 462 U. S. 707-709 (1983).
"is judged by balancing its intrusion on the individual's Fourth Amendment interests against its promotion of legitimate governmental interests."
Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. at 440 U. S. 654; United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U. S. 543 (1976).
"when 'special needs, beyond the normal need for law enforcement, make the warrant and probable cause requirement impracticable.'"
Griffin v. Wisconsin, 483 U. S. 868, 483 U. S. 873 (1987), quoting New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 469 U. S. 351 (BLACKMUN, J., concurring in judgment). When faced with such special needs, we have not hesitated to balance the governmental and privacy interests to assess the practicality of the warrant and probable cause requirements in the particular context. See, e.g., Griffin v. Wisconsin, supra, at 483 U. S. 873 (search of probationer's home); New York v.
Burger, 482 U. S. 691, 482 U. S. 699-703 (1987) (search of premises of certain highly regulated businesses); O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. at 480 U. S. 721-725 (work-related searches of employees' desks and offices); New Jersey v. T.L.O., supra, at 469 U. S. 337-342 (search of student's property by school officials); Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U. S. 520, 441 U. S. 558-560 (1979) (body cavity searches of prison inmates).
"likewise presents 'special needs' beyond normal law enforcement that may justify departures from the usual warrant and probable cause requirements."
"[t]he length of hours of service has direct relation to the efficiency of the human agencies upon which protection [of] life and property necessarily depends."
Baltimore & Ohio R. Co. v. ICC, 221 U. S. 612, 221 U. S. 619 (1911). See also Atchison, T. & S. F. R. Co. v. United States, 244 U. S. 336, 244 U. S. 342 (1917) ("[I]t must be remembered that the purpose of the act was to prevent the dangers which must necessarily arise to the employee and to the public from continuing men in a dangerous and hazardous business for periods so long as to render them unfit to give that service which is essential to the protection of themselves and those entrusted to their care").
and casualties in railroad operations that result from impairment of employees by alcohol or drugs." 49 CFR § 219.1(a) (1987). [Footnote 5] This governmental interest in ensuring the safety of the traveling public and of the employees themselves plainly justifies prohibiting covered employees from using alcohol or drugs on duty, or while subject to being called for duty. This interest also "require[s] and justif[ies] the exercise of supervision to assure that the restrictions are in fact observed." Griffin v. Wisconsin, 483 U.S. at 483 U. S. 875. The question that remains, then, is whether the Government's need to monitor compliance with these restrictions justifies the privacy intrusions at issue absent a warrant or individualized suspicion.
We have recognized, moreover, that the Government's interest in dispensing with the warrant requirement is at its strongest when, as here, "the burden of obtaining a warrant is likely to frustrate the governmental purpose behind the search." Camara v. Municipal Court of San Francisco, supra, at 387 U. S. 533. See also New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 469 U. S. 340; Donovan v. Dewey, 452 U. S. 594, 452 U. S. 603 (1981). As the FRA recognized, alcohol and other drugs are eliminated from the bloodstream at a constant rate, see 49 Fed.Reg. 24291 (1984), and blood and breath samples taken to measure whether these substances were in the bloodstream when a triggering event occurred must be obtained as soon as possible. See Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. at 384 U. S. 770-771. Although the metabolites of some drugs remain in the urine for longer periods of time, and may enable the FRA to estimate whether the employee was impaired by those drugs at the time of a covered accident, incident, or rule violation, 49 Fed.Reg. 24291 (1984), the delay necessary to procure a warrant nevertheless may result in the destruction of valuable evidence.
The Government's need to rely on private railroads to set the testing process in motion also indicates that insistence on a warrant requirement would impede the achievement of the Government's objective. Railroad supervisors, like school officials, see New Jersey v. T.L.O., supra, at 469 U. S. 339-340, and hospital administrators, see O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U.S. at 480 U. S. 722, are not in the business of investigating violations of the criminal laws or enforcing administrative codes, and otherwise have little occasion to become familiar with the intricacies of this Court's Fourth Amendment jurisprudence.
who would otherwise have no reason to be familiar with such procedures, is simply unreasonable."
In sum, imposing a warrant requirement in the present context would add little to the assurances of certainty and regularity already afforded by the regulations, while significantly hindering, and in many cases frustrating, the objectives of the Government's testing program. We do not believe that a warrant is essential to render the intrusions here at issue reasonable under the Fourth Amendment.
Our cases indicate that even a search that may be performed without a warrant must be based, as a general matter, on probable cause to believe that the person to be searched has violated the law. See New Jersey v. T.L.O., supra, at 469 U. S. 340. When the balance of interests precludes insistence on a showing of probable cause, we have usually required "some quantum of individualized suspicion" before concluding that a search is reasonable. See, e.g., United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U.S. at 428 U. S. 560. We made it clear, however, that a showing of individualized suspicion is not a constitutional floor below which a search must be presumed unreasonable. Id. at 428 U. S. 561. In limited circumstances, where the privacy interests implicated by the search are minimal and where an important governmental interest furthered by the intrusion would be placed in jeopardy by a requirement of individualized suspicion, a search may be reasonable despite the absence of such suspicion. We believe this is true of the intrusions in question here.
his employment, and few are free to come and go as they please during working hours. See, e.g., INS v. Delgado, 466 U.S. at 466 U. S. 218. Any additional interference with a railroad employee's freedom of movement that occurs in the time it takes to procure a blood, breath, or urine sample for testing cannot, by itself, be said to infringe significant privacy interests.
"tests are a commonplace in these days of periodic physical examinations, and experience with them teaches that the quantity of blood extracted is minimal, and that, for most people, the procedure involves virtually no risk, trauma, or pain."
"society's judgment that blood tests do not constitute an unduly extensive imposition on an individual's privacy and bodily integrity."
Winston v. Lee, 470 U.S. at 470 U. S. 762. See also South Dakota v. Neville, 459 U. S. 553, 563 (1983) ("The simple blood-alcohol test is . . . safe, painless, and commonplace"); Breithaupt v. Abram, 352 U. S. 432, 352 U. S. 436 (1957) ("The blood test procedure has become routine in our everyday life").
The breath tests authorized by Subpart D of the regulations are even less intrusive than the blood tests prescribed by Subpart C. Unlike blood tests, breath tests do not require piercing the skin, and may be conducted safely outside a hospital environment and with a minimum of inconvenience or embarrassment. Further, breath tests reveal the level of alcohol in the employee's bloodstream, and nothing more.
Like the blood testing procedures mandated by Subpart C, which can be used only to ascertain the presence of alcohol or controlled substances in the bloodstream, breath tests reveal no other facts in which the employee has a substantial privacy interest. Cf. United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. at 466 U. S. 123; United States v. Place, 462 U.S. at 462 U. S. 707. In all the circumstances, we cannot conclude that the administration of a breath test implicates significant privacy concerns.
employer, and is thus not unlike similar procedures encountered often in the context of a regular physical examination.
"test . . . railroad facilities, equipment, rolling stock, operations, or persons, as he deems necessary to carry out the provisions"
Way Employees, Lodge 16 v. Burlington Northern R. Co., 802 F.2d 1016, 1024 (CA8 1986).
"The reason is obvious. An idle locomotive, sitting in the roundhouse, is harmless. It becomes lethal when operated negligently by persons who are under the influence of alcohol or drugs."
839 F.2d at 593. Though some of the privacy interests implicated by the toxicological testing at issue reasonably might be viewed as significant in other contexts, logic and history show that a diminished expectation of privacy attaches to information relating to the physical condition of covered employees and to this reasonable means of procuring such information. We conclude, therefore, that the testing procedures contemplated by Subparts C and D pose only limited threats to the justifiable expectations of privacy of covered employees.
ample support in the railroad industry's experience with Rule G, and in the judgment of the courts that have examined analogous testing schemes. See, e.g., Brotherhood of Maintenance Way Employees, Lodge 16 v. Burlington Northern R. Co., supra, at 1020. Indeed, while respondents posit that impaired employees might be detected without alcohol or drug testing, [Footnote 9] the premise of respondents' lawsuit is that even the occurrence of a major calamity will not give rise to a suspicion of impairment with respect to any particular employee.
that threatens employees who use drugs or alcohol while on duty cannot serve as an effective deterrent unless violators know that they are likely to be discovered. By ensuring that employees in safety-sensitive positions know they will be tested upon the occurrence of a triggering event, the timing of which no employee can predict with certainty, the regulations significantly increase the deterrent effect of the administrative penalties associated with the prohibited conduct, cf. Griffin v. Wisconsin, 483 U.S. at 483 U. S. 876, concomitantly increasing the likelihood that employees will forgo using drugs or alcohol while subject to being called for duty.
The testing procedures contemplated by Subpart C also help railroads obtain invaluable information about the causes of major accidents, see 50 Fed.Reg. 31541 (1985), and to take appropriate measures to safeguard the general public. Cf. Michigan v. Tyler, 436 U. S. 499, 436 U. S. 510 (1978) (noting that prompt investigation of the causes of a fire may uncover continuing dangers, and thereby prevent the fire's recurrence); Michigan v. Clifford, 464 U. S. 287, 464 U. S. 308 (1984) (REHNQUIST, J., dissenting) (same). Positive test results would point toward drug or alcohol impairment on the part of members of the crew as a possible cause of an accident, and may help to establish whether a particular accident, otherwise not drug-related, was made worse by the inability of impaired employees to respond appropriately. Negative test results would likewise furnish invaluable clues, for eliminating drug impairment as a potential cause or contributing factor would help establish the significance of equipment failure, inadequate training, or other potential causes, and suggest a more thorough examination of these alternatives. Tests performed following the rule violations specified in Subpart D likewise can provide valuable information respecting the causes of those transgressions, which the FRA found to involve "the potential for a serious train accident or grave personal injury, or both." 50 Fed.Reg. 31553 (1985).
A requirement of particularized suspicion of drug or alcohol use would seriously impede an employer's ability to obtain this information, despite its obvious importance. Experience confirms the FRA's judgment that the scene of a serious rail accident is chaotic. Investigators who arrive at the scene shortly after a major accident has occurred may find it difficult to determine which members of a train crew contributed to its occurrence. Obtaining evidence that might give rise to the suspicion that a particular employee is impaired, a difficult endeavor in the best of circumstances, is most impracticable in the aftermath of a serious accident. While events following the rule violations that activate the testing authority of Subpart D may be less chaotic, objective indicia of impairment are absent in these instances as well. Indeed, any attempt to gather evidence relating to the possible impairment of particular employees likely would result in the loss or deterioration of the evidence furnished by the tests. Cf. Michigan v. Clifford, supra, at 464 U. S. 293, n. 4 (plurality opinion); Michigan v. Tyler, supra, at 436 U. S. 510. It would be unrealistic, and inimical to the Government's goal of ensuring safety in rail transportation, to require a showing of individualized suspicion in these circumstances.
"[b]lood and urine tests intended to establish drug use other than alcohol . . . cannot measure current drug intoxication or degree of impairment."
839 F.2d at 588. The court based its conclusion on its reading of certain academic journals that indicate that the testing of urine can disclose only drug metabolites, which "may remain in the body for days or weeks after the ingestion of the drug." Id. at 589. We find this analysis flawed for several reasons.
only have 'any tendency to make the existence of any fact that is of consequence to the determination [of the point in issue] more probable or less probable than it would be without the evidence.'"
469 U.S. at 469 U. S. 345, quoting Fed.Rule Evid. 401. Even if urine test results disclosed nothing more specific than the recent use of controlled substances by a covered employee, this information would provide the basis for further investigative work designed to determine whether the employee used drugs at the relevant times. See Field Manual B-4. The record makes clear, for example, that a positive test result, coupled with known information concerning the pattern of elimination for the particular drug and information that may be gathered from other sources about the employee's activities, may allow the FRA to reach an informed judgment as to how a particular accident occurred. See supra at 489 U. S. 609-610.
We conclude that the compelling Government interests served by the FRA's regulations would be significantly hindered if railroads were required to point to specific facts giving rise to a reasonable suspicion of impairment before testing a given employee. In view of our conclusion that, on the present record, the toxicological testing contemplated by the regulations is not an undue infringement on the justifiable expectations of privacy of covered employees, the Government's compelling interests outweigh privacy concerns.
The possession of unlawful drugs is a criminal offense that the Government may punish, but it is a separate and far more dangerous wrong to perform certain sensitive tasks while under the influence of those substances. Performing those tasks while impaired by alcohol is, of course, equally dangerous, though consumption of alcohol is legal in most other contexts. The Government may take all necessary and reasonable regulatory steps to prevent or deter that hazardous conduct, and since the gravamen of the evil is performing certain functions while concealing the substance in the body, it may be necessary, as in the case before us, to examine the body or its fluids to accomplish the regulatory purpose. The necessity to perform that regulatory function with respect to railroad employees engaged in safety-sensitive tasks, and the reasonableness of the system for doing so, have been established in this case.
searches of the person, they must meet the Fourth Amendment's reasonableness requirement. In light of the limited discretion exercised by the railroad employers under the regulations, the surpassing safety interests served by toxicological tests in this context, and the diminished expectation of privacy that attaches to information pertaining to the fitness of covered employees, we believe that it is reasonable to conduct such tests in the absence of a warrant or reasonable suspicion that any particular employee may be impaired. We hold that the alcohol and drug tests contemplated by Subparts C and D of the FRA's regulations are reasonable within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. The judgment of the Court of Appeals is accordingly reversed.
The FRA noted that a 1979 study examining the scope of alcohol abuse on seven major railroads found that "[a]n estimated one out of every eight railroad workers drank at least once while on duty during the study year." 48 Fed.Reg. 30724 (1983). In addition, "5% of workers reported to work very drunk' or got `very drunk' on duty at least once in the study year," and "13% of workers reported to work at least `a little drunk' one or more times during that period." Ibid. The study also found that 23% of the operating personnel were "problem drinkers," but that only 4% of these employees "were receiving help through an employee assistance program, and even fewer were handled through disciplinary procedures." Ibid.
"if the railroad representative can immediately determine, on the basis of specific information, that the employee had no role in the cause(s) of the accident/incident."
49 CFR 219.203(a)(3)(i) (1987). No exception may be made, however, in the case of a "major train accident." Ibid. In promulgating the regulations, the FRA noted that, while it is sometimes possible to exonerate crew members in other situations calling for testing, it is especially difficult to assess fault and degrees of fault in the aftermath of the more substantial accidents. See 50 Fed.Reg. 31544 (1985).
See Federal Railroad Administration, United States Dept. of Transportation Field Manual: Control of Alcohol and Drug Use in Railroad Operations B-12 (1986) (Field Manual). Ethyl alcohol is measured by gas chromatography. Ibid. In addition, while drug screens may be conducted by immunoassays or other techniques, "[p]ositive drug findings are confirmed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry." Ibid. These tests, if properly conducted, identify the presence of alcohol and drugs in the biological samples tested with great accuracy.
See, e.g., Lovvorn v. Chattanooga, 846 F.2d 1539, 1542 (CA6 1988); Copeland v. Philadelphia Police Dept., 840 F.2d 1139, 1143 (CA3 1988), cert. pending No. 88-66; Railway Labor Executives' Assn. v. Burnley, 839 F.2d 575, 580 (CA9 1988) (case below); Everett v. Napper, 833 F.2d 1507, 1511 (CA11 1987); Jones v. McKenzie, 266 U.S.App.D.C. 85, 88, 833 F.2d 335, 338 (1987); National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab, 816 F.2d 170, 176 (CA5 1987), aff'd in pertinent part, post, p. 656; McDonell v. Hunter, 809 F.2d 1302, 1307 (CA8 1987); Division 241, Amalgamated Transit Union v. Suscy, 538 F.2d 1264, 1266-1267 (CA7), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1029 (1976). See also Alverado v. Washington Public Power Supply System, 111 Wash.2d 424, 434, 759 P.2d 427, 432-433 (1988), cert. pending, No. 88-645.
Taking a blood or urine sample might also be characterized as a Fourth Amendment seizure, since it may be viewed as a meaningful interference with the employee's possessory interest in his bodily fluids. Cf. United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U. S. 109, 466 U. S. 113 (1984). It is not necessary to our analysis in this case, however, to characterize the taking of blood or urine samples as a seizure of those bodily fluids, for the privacy expectations protected by this characterization are adequately taken into account by our conclusion that such intrusions are searches.
"[e]ach sample provided under [Subpart C] is retained for not less than six months following the date of the accident or incident and may be made available to . . . a party in litigation upon service of appropriate compulsory process on the custodian. . . ."
49 CFR § 219.211(d) (1987). The FRA explained, when it promulgated this provision, that it intends to retain such samples primarily "for its own purposes (e.g., to permit reanalysis of a sample if another laboratory reported detection of a substance not tested for in the original procedure)." 50 Fed.Reg. 31545 (1985). While this provision might be read broadly to authorize the release of biological samples to law enforcement authorities, the record does not disclose that it was intended to be, or actually has been, so used. Indeed, while respondents aver generally that test results might be made available to law enforcement authorities, Brief for Respondents 24, they do not seriously contend that this provision, or any other part of the administrative scheme, was designed as "a pretext' to enable law enforcement authorities to gather evidence of penal law violations." New York v. Burger, 482 U. S. 691, 482 U. S. 716-717, n. 27 (1987). Absent a persuasive showing that the FRA's testing program is pretextual, we assess the FRA's scheme in light of its obvious administrative purpose. We leave for another day the question whether routine use in criminal prosecutions of evidence obtained pursuant to the administrative scheme would give rise to an inference of pretext, or otherwise impugn the administrative nature of the FRA's program.
Subpart C of the regulations, for example, does not permit the exercise of any discretion in choosing the employees who must submit to testing, except in limited circumstances, and then only if warranted by objective criteria. See n 2, supra. Subpart D, while conferring some discretion to choose those who may be required to submit to testing, also imposes specific constraints on the exercise of that discretion. Covered employees may be required to submit to breath or urine tests only if they have been directly involved in specified rule violations or errors, or if their acts or omissions contributed to the occurrence or severity of specified accidents or incidents. To be sure, some discretion necessarily must be used in determining whether an employee's acts or omissions contributed to the occurrence or severity of an event, but this limited assessment of the objective circumstances surrounding the event does not devolve unbridled discretion upon the supervisor in the field. Cf. Marshall v. Barlow's, Inc., 436 U. S. 307, 436 U. S. 323 (1978).
In addition, the regulations contain various safeguards against any possibility that discretion will be abused. A railroad that requires post-accident testing in bad faith, 49 CFR § 219.201(c) (1987), or that willfully imposes a program of authorized testing that does not comply with Subpart D, § 219.9(a)(3), or that otherwise fails to follow the regulations, § 219.9 (a)(5), is subject to civil penalties, see pt. 219, App. A, p. 105, in addition to whatever damages may be awarded through the arbitration process.
When employees produce the blood and urine samples required by Subpart C, they are asked by medical personnel to complete a form stating whether they have taken any medications during the preceding 30 days. The completed forms are shipped with the samples to the FRA's laboratory. See Field Manual B-15. This information is used to ascertain whether a positive test result can be explained by the employee's lawful use of medications. While this procedure permits the Government to learn certain private medical facts that an employee might prefer not to disclose, there is no indication that the Government does not treat this information as confidential, or that it uses the information for any other purpose. Under the circumstances, we do not view this procedure as a significant invasion of privacy. Cf. Whalen v. Roe, 429 U. S. 589, 429 U. S. 602 (1977).
See, e.g., Ala.Code § 37-2-85 (1977) (requiring that persons to be employed as dispatchers, engineers, conductors, brakemen, and switchmen be subjected to a "thorough examination" respecting, inter alia, their skill, sobriety, eyesight, and hearing); Mass.Gen.Laws §§ 160:178-160:181 (1979) (prescribing eyesight examination and experience requirements for railroad engineers and conductors); N.Y.R.R.Law § 63 (McKinney 1952) (requiring that all applicants for positions as motormen or gripmen "be subjected to a thorough examination . . . as to their habits, physical ability, and intelligence"). See also Nashville, C. & S. L. R. Co. v. Alabama, 128 U. S. 96, 128 U. S. 98-99 (1888) (noting, in upholding a predecessor of Alabama's fitness-for-duty statute against a Commerce Clause challenge, that a State may lawfully require railway employees to undergo eye examinations in the interests of safety).
"to effectively detect employees who are impaired by drug or alcohol use without resort to such intrusive procedures as blood and urine tests."
"[t]he reasonableness of any particular government activity does not necessarily or invariably turn on the existence of alternative 'less intrusive' means."
"[t]he logic of such elaborate less-restrictive-alternative arguments could raise insuperable barriers to the exercise of virtually all search-and-seizure powers,"
"'can almost always imagine some alternative means by which the objectives of the [Government] might have been accomplished.'"
United States v. Montoya de Hernandez, 473 U. S. 531, 473 U. S. 542 (1985), quoting United States v. Sharpe, 470 U. S. 675, 470 U. S. 686-687 (1985). Here, the FRA expressly considered various alternatives to its drug screening program, and reasonably found them wanting. At bottom, respondents' insistence on less drastic alternatives would require us to second-guess the reasonable conclusions drawn by the FRA after years of investigation and study. This we decline to do.
The Court of Appeals also expressed concern that the tests might be quite unreliable, and thus unreasonable. 839 F.2d at 589. The record compiled by the FRA after years of investigation and study does not support this conclusion. While it is impossible to guarantee that no mistakes will ever be made in isolated cases, respondents have challenged the administrative scheme on its face. We deal therefore with whether the tests contemplated by the regulations can ever be conducted. Cf. Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U. S. 520, 441 U. S. 560 (1979). Respondents have provided us with no reason for doubting the FRA's conclusion that the tests at issue here are accurate in the overwhelming majority of cases.
In my opinion, the public interest in determining the causes of serious railroad accidents adequately supports the validity of the challenged regulations. I am not persuaded, however, that the interest in deterring the use of alcohol or drugs is either necessary or sufficient to justify the searches authorized by these regulations.
I think it a dubious proposition that the regulations significantly deter the use of alcohol and drugs by hours of service employees. Most people -- and I would think most railroad employees as well -- do not go to work with the expectation that they may be involved in a major accident, particularly one causing such catastrophic results as loss of life or the release of hazardous material requiring an evacuation. Moreover, even if they are conscious of the possibilities that such an accident might occur and that alcohol or drug use might be a contributing factor, if the risk of serious personal injury does not deter their use of these substances, it seems highly unlikely that the additional threat of loss of employment would have any effect on their behavior.
For this reason, I do not join the portions of Part III of the Court's opinion that rely on a deterrence rationale; I do, however, join the balance of the opinion and the Court's judgment.
The issue in this case is not whether declaring a war on illegal drugs is good public policy. The importance of ridding our society of such drugs is, by now, apparent to all. Rather, the issue here is whether the Government's deployment in that war of a particularly draconian weapon -- the compulsory collection and chemical testing of railroad workers' blood and urine -- comports with the Fourth Amendment. Precisely because the need for action against the drug scourge is manifest, the need for vigilance against unconstitutional excess is great. History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure. The World War II relocation camp cases, Hirabayashi v. United States, 320 U. S. 81 (1943); Korematsu v. United States, 323 U. S. 214 (1944), and the Red scare and McCarthy-era internal subversion cases, Schenck v. United States, 249 U. S. 47 (1919); Dennis v. United States, 341 U. S. 494 (1951), are only the most extreme reminders that, when we allow fundamental freedoms to be sacrificed in the name of real or perceived exigency, we invariably come to regret it.
impairment. Ante at 489 U. S. 624. In reaching this result, the majority ignores the text and doctrinal history of the Fourth Amendment, which require that highly intrusive searches of this type be based on probable cause, not on the evanescent cost-benefit calculations of agencies or judges. But the majority errs even under its own utilitarian standards, trivializing the raw intrusiveness of, and overlooking serious conceptual and operational flaws in, the FRA's testing program. These flaws cast grave doubts on whether that program, though born of good intentions, will do more than ineffectually symbolize the Government's opposition to drug use.
The majority purports to limit its decision to post-accident testing of workers in "safety-sensitive" jobs, ante at 489 U. S. 620, much as it limits its holding in the companion case to the testing of transferees to jobs involving drug interdiction or the use of firearms. National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab, post at 489 U. S. 664. But the damage done to the Fourth Amendment is not so easily cabined. The majority's acceptance of dragnet blood and urine testing ensures that the first, and worst, casualty of the war on drugs will be the precious liberties of our citizens. I therefore dissent.
480 U. S. 709 (1987); and "effects," New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U. S. 325 (1985).
"[t]he right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated; and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The majority's recitation of the Amendment, remarkably, leaves off after the word "violated," ante at 489 U. S. 613, but the remainder of the Amendment -- the Warrant Clause -- is not so easily excised. As this Court has long recognized, the Framers intended the provisions of that Clause -- a warrant and probable cause -- to "provide the yardstick against which official searches and seizures are to be measured." T.L.O., supra, at 469 U. S. 359-360 (opinion of BRENNAN, J.). Without the content which those provisions give to the Fourth Amendment's overarching command that searches and seizures be "reasonable," the Amendment lies virtually devoid of meaning, subject to whatever content shifting judicial majorities, concerned about the problems of the day, choose to give to that supple term. See Dunaway v. New York, 442 U. S. 200, 442 U. S. 213 (1979) ("[T]he protections intended by the Framers could all too easily disappear in the consideration and balancing of the multifarious circumstances presented by different cases"). Constitutional requirements like probable cause are not fair-weather friends, present when advantageous, conveniently absent when "special needs" make them seem not.
In the four years since this Court, in T.L.O., first began recognizing "special needs" exceptions to the Fourth Amendment, the clarity of Fourth Amendment doctrine has been badly distorted, as the Court has eclipsed the probable cause requirement in a patchwork quilt of settings: public school principals' searches of students' belongings, T.L.O.; public employers' searches of employees' desks, O'Connor; and probation officers' searches of probationers' homes, Griffin. [Footnote 2/3] Tellingly, each time the Court has found that "special needs" counseled ignoring the literal requirements of the Fourth Amendment for such full-scale searches in favor of a formless and unguided "reasonableness" balancing inquiry, it has concluded that the search in question satisfied that test. I have joined dissenting opinions in each of these cases, protesting the "jettison[ing of] . . . the only standard that finds support in the text of the Fourth Amendment" and predicting that the majority's "Rohrschach-like balancing test'" portended "a dangerous weakening of the purpose of the Fourth Amendment to protect the privacy and security of our citizens." T.L.O., supra, at 469 U. S. 357-358 (opinion of BRENNAN, J.).
Hernandez, 473 U. S. 531, 473 U. S. 537 (1985). The result is "special needs" balancing analysis' deepest incursion yet into the core protections of the Fourth Amendment. Until today, it was conceivable that, when a Government search was aimed at a person and not simply the person's possessions, balancing analysis had no place. No longer: with nary a word of explanation or acknowledgment of the novelty of its approach, the majority extends the "special needs" framework to a regulation involving compulsory blood withdrawal and urinary excretion, and chemical testing of the bodily fluids collected through these procedures. And until today, it was conceivable that a prerequisite for surviving "special needs" analysis was the existence of individualized suspicion. No longer: in contrast to the searches in T.L.O., O'Connor, and Griffin, which were supported by individualized evidence suggesting the culpability of the persons whose property was searched, [Footnote 2/4] the regulatory regime upheld today requires the post-accident collection and testing of the blood and urine of all covered employees -- even if every member of this group gives every indication of sobriety and attentiveness.
The fact is that the malleable "special needs" balancing approach can be justified only on the basis of the policy results it allows the majority to reach. The majority's concern with the railroad safety problems caused by drug and alcohol abuse is laudable; its cavalier disregard for the text of the Constitution is not. There is no drug exception to the Constitution, any more than there is a communism exception or an exception for other real or imagined sources of domestic unrest. Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U. S. 443, 403 U. S. 455 (1971). Because abandoning the explicit protections of the Fourth Amendment seriously imperils "the right to be let alone -- the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men," Olmstead v. United States, 277 U. S. 438, 277 U. S. 478 (1928) (Brandeis, J., dissenting), I reject the majority's "special needs" rationale as unprincipled and dangerous.
search has taken place, see, e.g., Katz v. United States, 389 U. S. 347, 389 U. S. 350-353 (1967); whether the search was based on a valid warrant or undertaken pursuant to a recognized exception to the warrant requirement, see, e.g., Welsh v. Wisconsin, 466 U. S. 740, 466 U. S. 748-750 (1984); whether the search was based on probable cause or validly based on lesser suspicion because it was minimally intrusive, see, e.g., Dunaway, 442 U.S. at 442 U. S. 208-210; and, finally, whether the search was conducted in a reasonable manner, see, e.g., Winston v. Lee, 470 U. S. 753, 470 U. S. 763-766 (1985). See also T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 469 U. S. 354-355 (opinion of BRENNAN, J.) (summarizing analytic framework).
properly collected and preserved, and there is no reason to doubt the ability of railroad officials to grasp the relatively simple procedure of obtaining a warrant authorizing, where appropriate, chemical analysis of the extracted fluids. It is therefore wholly unjustified to dispense with the warrant requirement for this final search. See Chimel v. California, 395 U. S. 752, 395 U. S. 761-764 (1969) (exigency exception permits warrantless searches only to the extent that exigency exists).
It is the probable cause requirement, however, that the FRA's testing regime most egregiously violates, a fact which explains the majority's ready acceptance and expansion of the countertextual "special needs" exception. By any measure, the FRA's highly intrusive collection and testing procedures qualify as full-scale personal searches. Under our precedents, a showing of probable cause is therefore clearly required. But even if these searches were viewed as entailing only minimal intrusions on the order, say, of a police stop-and-frisk, the FRA's program would still fail to pass constitutional muster, for we have, without exception, demanded that even minimally intrusive searches of the person be founded on individualized suspicion. See supra at 489 U. S. 638, and n. 1. The federal parties concede it does not satisfy this standard. Brief for Federal Parties 18. Only if one construes the FRA's collection and testing procedures as akin to the routinized and fleeting regulatory interactions which we have permitted in the absence of individualized suspicion, see n. 2, supra, might these procedures survive constitutional scrutiny. Presumably for this reason, the majority likens this case to United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U. S. 543 (1976), which upheld brief automobile stops at the border to ascertain the validity of motorists' residence in the United States. Ante at 489 U. S. 624. Case law and common sense reveal both the bankruptcy of this absurd analogy and the constitutional imperative of adhering to the textual standard of probable cause to evaluate the FRA's multifarious full-scale searches.
"Even a limited search of the outer clothing . . . constitutes a severe, though brief, intrusion upon cherished personal security, and it must surely be an annoying, frightening, and perhaps humiliating experience."
392 U.S. 392 U. S. 24-25. We have similarly described the taking of a suspect's fingernail scrapings as a "severe, though brief, intrusion upon cherished personal security.'" Cupp v. Murphy, 412 U. S. 291, 412 U. S. 295 (1973) (quoting Terry, supra, at 392 U. S. 24-25, and upholding this procedure upon a showing of probable cause). The government-compelled withdrawal of blood, involving as it does the added aspect of physical invasion, is surely no less an intrusion. The surrender of blood on demand is, furthermore, hardly a quotidian occurrence. Cf. Martinez-Fuerte, supra, at 428 U. S. 557 (routine stops involve "quite limited" intrusion).
"The interests in human dignity and privacy which the Fourth Amendment protects forbid any such intrusions on the mere chance that desired evidence might be obtained. In the absence of a clear indication that in fact such evidence will be found, these fundamental human interests require law officers to suffer the risk that such evidence may disappear. . . ."
"[I]n our culture, the excretory functions are shielded by more or less absolute privacy, so much so that situations in which this privacy is violated are experienced as extremely distressing, as detracting from one's dignity and self esteem."
"'There are few activities in our society more personal or private than the passing of urine. Most people describe it by euphemisms, if they talk about it at all. It is a function traditionally performed without public observation; indeed, its performance in public is generally prohibited by law as well as social custom.'"
Ante at 489 U. S. 617, quoting National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab, 816 F.2d 170, 175 (CA5 1987). The fact that the majority can invoke this powerful passage in the context of deciding that a search has occurred, and then ignore it in deciding that the privacy interests this search implicates are "minimal," underscores the shameless manipulability of its balancing approach.
"[S]uch tests may provide Government officials with a periscope through which they can peer into an individual's behavior in her private life, even in her own home."
watching"). The FRA's requirement that workers disclose the medications they have taken during the 30 days prior to chemical testing further impinges upon the confidentiality customarily attending personal health secrets.
By any reading of our precedents, the intrusiveness of these three searches demands that they -- like other full-scale searches -- be justified by probable cause. It is no answer to suggest, as does the majority, that railroad workers have relinquished the protection afforded them by this Fourth Amendment requirement, either by "participat[ing] in an industry that is regulated pervasively to ensure safety" or by undergoing periodic fitness tests pursuant to state law or to collective bargaining agreements. Ante at 489 U. S. 627.
"[c]ertain industries have such a history of government oversight that no reasonable expectation of privacy could exist for a proprietor over the stock of such an enterprise."
little indeed if, having passed through these portals, an individual may remain subject to a suspicionless search of his person justified solely on the grounds that the Government already is permitted to conduct a search of the inanimate contents of the surrounding area. In holding that searches of persons may fall within the category of regulatory searches permitted in the absence of probable cause or even individualized suspicion, the majority sets a dangerous and ill-conceived precedent.
The majority's suggestion that railroad workers' privacy is only minimally invaded by the collection and testing of their bodily fluids because they undergo periodic fitness tests, ante at 489 U. S. 624-625, is equally baseless. As an initial matter, even if participation in these fitness tests did render "minimal" an employee's "interest in bodily security," ante at 489 U. S. 628, such minimally intrusive searches of the person require, under our precedents, a justificatory showing of individualized suspicion. See supra, at 489 U. S. 637. More fundamentally, railroad employees are not routinely required to submit to blood or urine tests to gain or to maintain employment, and railroad employers do not ordinarily have access to employees' blood or urine, and certainly not for the purpose of ascertaining drug or alcohol usage. That railroad employees sometimes undergo tests of eyesight, hearing, skill, intelligence, and agility, ante at 489 U. S. 627, n. 8, hardly prepares them for Government demands to submit to the extraction of blood, to excrete under supervision, or to have these bodily fluids tested for the physiological and psychological secrets they may contain. Surely employees who release basic information about their financial and personal history so that employers may ascertain their "ethical fitness" do not, by so doing, relinquish their expectations of privacy with respect to their personal letters and diaries, revealing though these papers may be of their character.
may hinder the Government's attempts to make rail transit as safe as humanly possible. But constitutional rights have their consequences, and one is that efforts to maximize the public welfare, no matter how well-intentioned, must always be pursued within constitutional boundaries. Were the police freed from the constraints of the Fourth Amendment for just one day to seek out evidence of criminal wrongdoing, the resulting convictions and incarcerations would probably prevent thousands of fatalities. Our refusal to tolerate this spectre reflects our shared belief that even beneficent governmental power -- whether exercised to save money, save lives, or make the trains run on time -- must always yield to "a resolute loyalty to constitutional safeguards." Almeida-Sanchez v. United States, 413 U. S. 266, 413 U. S. 273 (1973). The Constitution demands no less loyalty here.
Even accepting the majority's view that the FRA's collection and testing program is appropriately analyzed under a multifactor balancing test, and not under the literal terms of the Fourth Amendment, I would still find the program invalid. The benefits of suspicionless blood and urine testing are far outstripped by the costs imposed on personal liberty by such sweeping searches. Only by erroneously deriding as "minimal" the privacy and dignity interests at stake, and by uncritically inflating the likely efficacy of the FRA's testing program, does the majority strike a different balance.
§ 219.211(d) (1987) ("Each sample . . . may be made available to . . . a party in litigation upon service of appropriate compulsory process on the custodian of the sample . . ."). This is an unprecedented invitation, leaving open the possibility of criminal prosecutions based on suspicionless searches of the human body. Cf. National Treasury Employees Union, post at 666 (Customs Service drug-testing program prohibits use of test results in criminal prosecutions); Camara, 387 U.S. at 387 U. S. 537.
The majority also overlooks needlessly intrusive aspects of the testing process itself. Although the FRA requires the collection and testing of both blood and urine, the agency concedes that mandatory urine tests -- unlike blood tests -- do not measure current impairment, and therefore cannot differentiate on-duty impairment from prior drug or alcohol use which has ceased to affect the user's behavior. See 49 CFR § 219.309(2) (1987) (urine test may reveal use of drugs or alcohol as much as 60 days prior to sampling). Given that the FRA's stated goal is to ascertain current impairment, and not to identify persons who have used substances in their spare time sufficiently in advance of their railroad duties to pose no risk of on-duty impairment, § 219.101(a), mandatory urine testing seems wholly excessive. At the very least, the FRA could limit its use of urinalysis to confirming findings of current impairment suggested by a person's blood tests. The additional invasion caused by automatically testing urine as well as blood hardly ensures that privacy interests "will be invaded no more than is necessary." T.L.O., 469 U.S. at 469 U. S. 343.
"Most people -- and I would think most railroad employees as well -- do not go to work with the expectation that they may be involved in a major accident, particularly one causing such catastrophic results as loss of life or the release of hazardous material requiring an evacuation. Moreover, even if they are conscious of the possibilities that such an accident might occur and that alcohol or drug use might be a contributing factor, if the risk of serious personal injury does not deter their use of these substances, it seems highly unlikely that the additional threat of loss of employment would have any effect on their behavior."
Ante at 489 U. S. 634. Under the majority's deterrence rationale, people who skip school or work to spend a sunny day at the zoo will not taunt the lions because their truancy or absenteeism might be discovered in the event they are mauled. It is, of course, the fear of the accident, not the fear of a post-accident revelation, that deters. The majority's credulous acceptance of the FRA's deterrence rationale is made all the more suspect by the agency's failure to introduce, in an otherwise ample administrative record, any studies explaining or supporting its theory of accident deterrence.
that accident. See 839 F.2d 575, 587 (CA9 1988). Some corroborative evidence is needed: witness or coworker accounts of a worker's misfeasance, or at least indications that the cause of the accident was within a worker's area of responsibility. Such particularized facts are, of course, the very essence of the individualized suspicion requirement which the respondent railroad workers urge, and which the Court of Appeals found to "pos[e] no insuperable burden on the government." Id. at 588. Furthermore, reliance on the importance of diagnosing the causes of an accident as a critical basis for upholding the FRA's testing plan is especially hard to square with our frequent admonition that the interest in ascertaining the causes of a criminal episode does not justify departure from the Fourth Amendment's requirements. "[T]his Court has never sustained a search upon the sole ground that officers reasonably expected to find evidence of a particular crime. . . ." Katz, 389 U.S. at 389 U. S. 356. Nor should it here.
"Great cases, like hard cases, make bad law. For great cases are called great, not by reason of their real importance in shaping the law of the future, but because of some accident of immediate overwhelming interest which appeals to the feelings and distorts the judgment. These immediate interests exercise a kind of hydraulic pressure which makes what previously was clear seem doubtful, and before which even well settled principles of law will bend."
Northern Securities Co. v. United States, 193 U. S. 197, 193 U. S. 400-401 (1904).
majority bends time-honored and textually based principles of the Fourth Amendment -- principles the Framers of the Bill of Rights designed to ensure that the Government has a strong and individualized justification when it seeks to invade an individual's privacy. I believe the Framers would be appalled by the vision of mass governmental intrusions upon the integrity of the human body that the majority allows to become reality. The immediate victims of the majority's constitutional timorousness will be those railroad workers whose bodily fluids the Government may now forcibly collect and analyze. But ultimately, today's decision will reduce the privacy all citizens may enjoy, for, as Justice Holmes understood, principles of law, once bent, do not snap back easily. I dissent.
The first, and leading, case of a minimally intrusive search held valid when based on suspicion short of probable cause is Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, 392 U. S. 30 (1968), where we held that a police officer who observes unusual conduct suggesting criminal activity by persons he reasonably suspects are armed and presently dangerous may "conduct a carefully limited search of the outer clothing of such persons." See also United States v. Hensley, 469 U. S. 221 (1985) (upholding brief stop of person described on wanted flyer while police ascertain if arrest warrant has been issued); Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U. S. 648 (1979) (invalidating discretionary stops of motorists to check licenses and registrations when not based on reasonable suspicion that the motorist is unlicensed, the automobile is unregistered, or that the vehicle or an occupant should otherwise be detained); Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U. S. 106 (1977) (upholding limited search where officers who had lawfully stopped car saw a large bulge under the driver's jacket); United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, 422 U. S. 873 (1975) (upholding brief stops by roving border patrols where officers reasonably believe car may contain illegal aliens); Adams v. Williams, 407 U. S. 143 (1972) (upholding brief stop to interrogate suspicious individual believed to be carrying narcotics and gun).
See, e.g., United States v. Martinez-Fuerte, 428 U. S. 543 (1976) (brief interrogative stop at permanent border checkpoint to ascertain motorist's residence status); Camara v. Municipal Court of San Francisco, 387 U. S. 523 (1967) (routine annual inspection by city housing department).
The "special needs" the Court invoked to justify abrogating the probable cause requirement were, in New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U. S. 325, 469 U. S. 341 (1985), "the substantial need of teachers and administrators for freedom to maintain order in the schools"; in O'Connor v. Ortega, 480 U. S. 709, 480 U. S. 725 (1987), "the efficient and proper operation of the workplace"; and in Griffin v. Wisconsin, 483 U. S. 868, 483 U. S. 878 (1987), the need to preserve "the deterrent effect of the supervisory arrangement" of probation.
See T.L.O., supra, at 469 U. S. 346 (teacher's report that student had been smoking provided reasonable suspicion that purse contained cigarettes); O'Connor, supra, at 480 U. S. 726 (charges of specific financial improprieties gave employer individualized suspicion of misconduct by employee); Griffin, supra, at 483 U. S. 879-880 (tip to police officer that probationer was storing guns in his apartment provided reasonable suspicion).
That the Fourth Amendment applies equally to criminal and civil searches was emphasized, ironically enough, in the portion of T.L.O. holding the Fourth Amendment applicable to schoolhouse searches. 469 U.S. at 469 U. S. 335. The malleability of "special needs" balancing thus could not be clearer: the majority endorses the applicability of the Fourth Amendment to civil searches in determining whether a search has taken place, but then wholly ignores it in the subsequent inquiry into the validity of that search.
The FRA's breath-testing procedures also constitute searches subject to constitutional safeguards. See ante at 489 U. S. 616-617 (reaching same conclusion). I focus my discussion on the collection and testing of blood and urine because those more intrusive procedures better demonstrate the excesses of the FRA's scheme.
The majority, seeking to lessen the devastating ramifications of Schmerber v. California, 384 U. S. 757 (1966), and to back up its assertion that Government-imposed blood extraction does not "infringe significant privacy interests," ante at 489 U. S. 625, emphasizes Schmerber's observation that blood tests are commonplace, and can be performed with "virtually no risk, trauma, or pain.'" Ibid., quoting 384 U.S. at 384 U. S. 771. The majority, however, wrenches this statement out of context. The Schmerber Court made this statement only after it established that the blood test fell within the exigent circumstances exception to the warrant requirement, and that the test was supported by probable cause. Indeed, the statement was made only in the context of the separate inquiry into whether the compulsory blood test was conducted in a reasonable manner. 384 U.S. at 384 U. S. 768-772; see also Winston v. Lee, 470 U. S. 753, 470 U. S. 760-761 (1985) ("Schmerber recognized that the ordinary requirements of the Fourth Amendment would be the threshold requirements for conducting this kind of surgical search and seizure. . . . Beyond these standards, Schmerber's inquiry considered a number of other factors in determining the `reasonableness' of the blood test") (emphasis added). The majority also cites South Dakota v. Neville, 459 U. S. 553 (1983), and Breithaupt v. Abram, 352 U. S. 432 (1957), for the proposition that blood tests are commonplace. Ante at 489 U. S. 625. In both those cases, however, the police officers who attempted to impose blood tests on drunk-driving suspects had exceptionally strong evidence of the driver's inebriation. 459 U.S. at 459 U. S. 554-556; 352 U.S. at 352 U. S. 433.
The majority dismisses as nonexistent the intrusiveness of such "direct observation," on the ground that FRA regulations state that such observation is not "require[d]." 50 Fed.Reg. 31555 (1985), cited ante at 489 U. S. 626. The majority's dismissal is too hasty, however, for the regulations -- in the very same sentence -- go on to state: "but observation is the most effective means of ensuring that the sample is that of the employee and has not been diluted." 50 Fed.Reg. 31555 (1985). Even if this were not the case, the majority's suggestion that officials monitoring urination will disregard the clear commands of the Field Manual with which they are provided is dubious, to say the least.
See, e.g., National Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab, 816 F.2d 170, 175 (CA5 1987), aff'd in pertinent part, post, p. 656; Taylor v. O'Grady, 669 F.Supp. 1422, 1433-1434 (ND Ill.1987); Feliciano v. Cleveland, 661 F.Supp. 578, 586 (ND Ohio 1987); American Federation of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. Weinberger, 651 F.Supp. 726, 732-733 (SD Ga.1986); Capua v. Plainfield, 643 F.Supp. 1507, 1514 (NJ 1986).
As a result of the majority's extension of the regulatory search doctrine to searches of the person, individuals the FRA finds to have used drugs may face criminal prosecution, even if their impairment had nothing to do with causing an accident. The majority observes that evidence of criminal behavior unearthed during an otherwise valid regulatory search is not excludible unless the search is shown to be a "pretext" for obtaining evidence for a criminal trial, ante at 489 U. S. 621, n. 5, citing New York v. Burger, 482 U. S. 691, 482 U. S. 716-717, n. 27 (1987) -- a defense the majority belittles but, mercifully, preserves for another day.

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