nstitution was created because of the rough treatment of colonists by the British. The British restricted trade and travel and this gave way to smuggling. “British soldiers frequently conducted unrestricted house-to-house searches. People were forced to keep their private records and other personal information on their person or hidden in their home or business to avoid exposure and possible arrest” (Berger, 102). The Fourth Amendment was part of the Constitution’s Bill of Rights to protect one’s privacy and maintain search and seizure guarantees. Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis described the right to privacy as “the right to be let alone-the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men.” The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees the “right of the people to be secure in their person, houses, papers and effects against unreasonable search and seizure” except upon probable cause. Random drug testing threatens the Fourth Amendment and has been called suspicion by association. This is to say that it is not possible to justify a search of one person because they are similar to another. “Suppose a certain neighborhood has a high incidence of violent crime. The police cannot defend a blanket search of all residents by claiming that there were many armed individuals among them, they say” (Berger, 52). “Random drug testing assumes that every student is using drugs until they prove to the contrary by submitting a urine sample,” (ACLU, 1) In general, the government cannot search a person without reason to suspect that he or she is guilty of wrongdoing. There is an exception, however, in limited circumstances, where the search is in special need, the government has a compelling interest in the search or the privacy interests affected by the test are minimal. In Random Drug testing there are no Fourth Amendment rights t...
