Opinion ID: 783790
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Immediate Purpose of the Act is Law Enforcement

Text: 52 The government also asserts that even if the ultimate objective of searches pursuant to the Act is law enforcement, their immediate purpose is to fill a gap in the CODIS database. In Ferguson, the Court held that the hospital's testing policy was not justified by a special need because its immediate purpose was law enforcement, even if its ultimate purpose was to help those mothers who were substance abusers and their children. 532 U.S. at 82-84, 121 S.Ct. 1281. Here, the government's explanation of the searches' immediate purpose is in no way supported by Ferguson 's distinction. First, Ferguson said that the government could not disclaim a law enforcement purpose by pointing to an ultimate purpose and ignoring an immediate purpose. It did not suggest that the reverse would be any less objectionable — that the courts could ignore the ultimate law enforcement purpose if the government could point to an immediate other purpose. To the contrary, if either the immediate or the ultimate objective serves a law enforcement purpose, the special needs doctrine is inapplicable. Second, the immediate purpose of searches pursuant to the Act, as we have understood the intent of legislation in other cases, is to gather evidence for criminal investigation, not to put evidence into a database. The purpose of these searches is no more to put samples into CODIS than is the purpose of finger-printing to place cards into index files. 31 Accordingly, we reject the government's suggested distinction. Both the immediate purpose and the ultimate objective of searches under the Act are to further law enforcement ends. 53