Opinion ID: 853224
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Chandler v. Miller

Text: In Chandler v. Miller, 520 U.S. 305, 117 S.Ct. 1295, 137 L.Ed.2d 513 (1997), the United States Supreme Court explained in further detail when it is appropriate to apply the special needs doctrine. The Court in Chandler found unconstitutional Georgia's policy of requiring certain candidates for public office to submit to drug testing. Justice Ginsburg, writing for an eight-member majority, explained that to successfully make the case that a special need exists, a government actor must demonstrate a concrete danger demanding departure from the Fourth Amendment's main rule. Id. at 319, 117 S.Ct. 1295. Georgia argued that its testing policy passed constitutional muster based on the Court's earlier decisions upholding suspicionless testing of student athletes, Vernonia, 515 U.S. 646, 115 S.Ct. 2386, 132 L.Ed.2d 564, certain United States Treasury employees, Nat'l Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab, 489 U.S. 656, 109 S.Ct. 1384, 103 L.Ed.2d 685 (1989), and certain railroad employees, Skinner v. Ry. Labor Executives' Ass'n, 489 U.S. 602, 109 S.Ct. 1402, 103 L.Ed.2d 639 (1989). The Court explained that the employees subject to testing in Von Raab were directly involved [in] drug interdiction, [2] Skinner offered evidence of drug and alcohol abuse by railway employees engaged in safety-sensitive tasks, and Vernonia responded to an immediate crisis prompted by a sharp rise in students' use of unlawful drugs. Georgia's plan to screen candidates for public office failed to address a concrete danger, the Court explained, because: (1) the record did not suggest that the hazards argued by the state were real and not simply hypothetical for Georgia's polity; (2) the requirement was not well designed to identify drug users; (3) it was feasible, within the environment of public office, to note erratic conduct that would lead to a suspicion of drug use; and (4) the risk to public safety was neither substantial nor real. 520 U.S. at 319-23, 117 S.Ct. 1295. Although this case and Vernonia both address school programs, for several reasons NSC's plan is closer to Georgia's plan for wanna-be officeholders than the Vernonia plan for its students. First, the survey and other evidence relied upon by NSC may establish a drug problem, but not among the categories of students tested. Second, the testing, though intended to prevent school-wide drug use, identifies only drug users among the population of students who submit to the program. Third, it is feasible, as NSC's own policy makes clear, for NSC officials to determine when a reasonable suspicion of drug use exists. Fourth, NSC has not shown any evidence, of the type presented in Vernonia, of drug use as a source of significant problems in conducting the school's educational program.