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from the unreasonable-searches-and-seizures dept.
Via Common Dreams, the American Civil Liberties Union reports
[December 3], a three-judge panel at the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that a 2011 Florida law mandating that all applicants for the state's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program submit to suspicion-less drug tests violates the Constitution's protection against unreasonable government searches.
[...]The 11th Circuit panel's order rejects arguments made by attorneys for the State of Florida that government has the authority to require people to submit to invasive searches of their bodily fluids without suspicion of wrongdoing, stating "the warrantless, suspicionless urinalysis drug testing of every Florida TANF applicant as a mandatory requirement for receiving Temporary Cash Assistance offends the Fourth Amendment."
[...]A 2012 review of the TANF mandatory urinalysis program found that the state of Florida spent more money reimbursing individuals for drug tests than the state saved on screening out the extremely small percentage.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Friday December 05 2014, @01:17AM
There are 2 issues there. We don't have any laws trying to prevent the moral hazards of a multi million dollar performance bonus that you get even if you do a terrible job. We rarely do much to CEOs who manipulate the company to pump and dump their stock.
The second is that the 'lifestyle' available on public aid in the U.S. is nothing to be desired. Arguably, if someone is satisfied to live that way long term, they have some sort of legitimate psychological issue and should be eligible for treatment.
It's also ironic that all the crazy rules to make sure nobody gets even one penny they don't have coming also keep people trapped on welfare. The rules make what are normally prudent financial decisions into traps.