Opinion ID: 175302
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Degree of Intrusion on Pool's Privacy

Text: Precedent establishes that the physical intrusion required to take a DNA sample is minimal. Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives' Ass'n., 489 U.S. 602, 625, 109 S.Ct. 1402, 103 L.Ed.2d 639 (1989) (We said also that the intrusion occasioned by a blood test is not significant, since such `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.') (internal citation omitted); Kriesel, 508 F.3d at 948(The additional privacy implications of a blood test collecting DNA, as opposed to a cheek swab or other mechanism, do not significantly alter our analysis.). Pool's greater concern, however, is not with the physical intrusiveness of the DNA testing, but with the intrusive nature of the information gathered by the government. The government, however, asserts that it only seeks to determine Pool's identification. Indeed, it is doubtful that Pool, or any other individual having been indicted by a grand jury or having been subjected to a judicial determination of probable cause, has any right to withhold his or her true identification from the government. See Kincade, 379 F.3d at 837(the DNA profile derived from the defendant's blood sample establishes only a record of the defendant's identityotherwise personal information in which the qualified offender can claim no right of privacy once lawfully convicted of a qualifying offense (indeed, once lawfully arrested and booked into state custody).); Jones v. Murray, 962 F.2d 302, 306 (4th Cir.1992) (when a suspect is arrested upon probable cause, his identification becomes a matter of legitimate state interest and he can hardly claim privacy in it). The government argues that by design and law, the collection of DNA is limited to individual identification. The 13 markers on the DNA which the government uses to identify the donor were purposely selected because they are not associated with any known physical or medical characteristics. Kincade, 379 F.3d at 818(internal quotation and citation omitted). See also Kriesel, 508 F.3d at 947. In implementing the Act, the Department of Justice stated that DNA profiles are to be used for identification purposes. [6] 73 FR at 74937-38. The statute imposes criminal and financial penalties for improper use of DNA samples, 42 U.S.C. § 14135e(c), and limits access to DNA materials, 42 U.S.C. § 14133(b)(1)(A)-(C). There are also provisions for the expungement of the DNA information if the defendant is acquitted or the felony charges are dismissed. 42 U.S.C. § 14132(d)(1)(A). Pool and the amicus raise two objections. First, they argue that the DNA information collected could reveal much more than the person's identification. CODIS may focus on the junk DNA, but the DNA sample contains all of an individual's DNA. Pool is not comforted by the government's assurance that it will not look at other aspects of a person's DNA. Second, Pool posits that the government through the use of familial comparisons may suspect innocent people simply because their DNA has some strands that are similar to the defendant's DNA. Pool and the amicus assert that these arguments help distinguish DNA from fingerprints because fingerprints only identify an individual; they contain no information as to an individual's heritage or predilections. Addressing Pool's concerns in inverse order, it is not clear that familial comparisons raise a constitutional privacy issue or, if they do, whose interests are violated. The concern with familial comparisons or partial matching is that a review of CODIS may disclose an individual whose DNA does not match precisely to crime scene DNA from a perpetrator, but is close enough to create a probability that the perpetrator is a close relative to the identified individual. The familial match is not implicated: by definition the match is not perfect, so the government knows that the match is not the perpetrator. It is questionable whether the rights of the perpetrator (if ultimately identified through the use of familial comparisons) are violated. This seems somewhat analogous to a witness looking at a photograph of one person and stating that the perpetrator has a similar appearance which leads the police to show the witness photos of similar looking individuals, one of whom the witness identifies as the perpetrator. It is questionable whether the person whose photograph helped focus the inquiry, or whose familial comparison helped focus the inquiry, has suffered any invasion of his or her constitutional right to privacy. Pool's concerns about the government's potential use of DNA are understandable, but several factors mitigate those concerns. First, in Kriesel and Kincade, we recognized that the DNA collection system was designed not to reveal genetic traits such as physical and medical characteristics. Kriesel, 508 F.3d at 947; Kincade, 379 F.3d at 818-19. Although there is some scientific evidence to suggest that the junk DNA that is the focus of CODIS may contain information that is not junk, this, at most, indicates that the government might be able to ascertain genetic traits from the 13 loci, not that it actually could do so. [7] Second, even if appellant and amicus have shown that it is physically possible for the government to extract genetic traits from the 13 loci, there is no evidence that the government could legally do so without further legislation, or that the government has any intention of doing so. As noted, 42 U.S.C. § 14133(b) limits the present use of DNA information and the government asserts that Congress has prohibited the alteration of the core loci without prior notice and explanation to Congress. See P.L. 108-405 § 203(f). Third, the plurality opinion in Kincade considered and rejected similar concerns as to the government's potential use of DNA information. The opinion noted: But beyond the fact that the DNA Act itself provides protections against such misuse, our job is limited to resolving the constitutionality of the program before us, as it is designed and as it has been implemented. In our system of government, courts base decisions not on dramatic Hollywood fantasies, ... but on concretely particularized facts developed in the cauldron of the adversary process and reduced to an assessable record. If, ... and when, some future program permits the parade of horribles the DNA Act's opponents fearunregulated disclosure of CODIS profiles to private parties, genetic discrimination, state-sponsored eugenics, ... we have every confidence that courts will respond appropriately. As currently structured and implemented, however, the DNA Act's compulsory profiling of qualified federal offenders can only be described asminimally invasiveboth in terms of the bodily intrusion it occasions, and the information it lawfully produces. 379 F.3d at 837-38 (footnotes omitted) (emphasis added). Although Kincade dealt with the taking of DNA from convicted offenders, the plurality's determination that the information produced by CODIS is minimally invasive is applicable to this case. Furthermore, Pool has not offered any evidence that might undermine our determination in Kincade. In sum, prior judicial decisions hold that the physical invasion of a buccal swab or even a blood prick is minimal and that Pool has little or no right to hide his identity from the government. The nature of the privacy invasion, however, is more difficult to evaluate because although CODIS is designed only to facilitate identity, Pool raises non-frivolous concerns that the government could use the DNA materials to determine genetic traits. Nonetheless, the plurality opinion in Kincade holds that the Act is minimally invasive both in terms of the bodily intrusion it occasions, and the information it lawfully produces. 397 F.3d at 838. We conclude that Pool has not shown any greater intrusion on his privacy than did Kincade. [8]