I hate it when I have mixed feelings about the ACLU:
A new Florida law that requires welfare recipients to pass a drug test violates their constitutional rights, the American Civil Liberties Union is charging in a lawsuit.
The suit asserts that the mandatory drug testing is a violation of the right against unreasonable search and seizure.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed the drug testing requirement into law in May, fulfilling one of his campaign promises.
Under Scott's drug testing law, welfare applicants are required to pay for their own drug testing - about $30 to $35 - but are reimbursed if the tests are returned negative.
We need to take "unreasonable search and seizure" seriously, so there's a defensible principle involved here. Things like random drug tests at work or blanket roadblocks for DUI checks offend the Bill of Rights. But the Florida law doesn't seem quite as unconstitutional to me as it does to the ACLU. A lot of companies require drug tests for prospective workers, and whether we like it or not, they have the right to set their terms of employment. Welfare is given to people in lieu of a paycheck, so isn't it reasonable to make the recipients subject to the same requirements as prospective employees?
