Do Nonconsensual Drug Tests Violate the Fourth Amendment?

      Do Nonconsensual Drug Tests Violate the Fourth Amendment?

      Byline: Bill O''Reilly

      Guest: Donna Lieberman

      O''REILLY: In the ``Unresolved Problem'' segment tonight, the Supreme Court is currently hearing a case out of South Carolina where 10 pregnant women sued the city of Charleston after they were drug tested against their will and arrested after evidence of their cocaine use was turned over to the police. The court is expected to render a decision this spring.

      And joining us now is Donna Lieberman, the director of the Reproductive Rights Project at the New York Civil Liberties Union.

      So what''s your take on this?

      DONNA LIEBERMAN, NEW YORK CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION: Well, I think this is a very important case because it raises the question of whether the police can turn doctors into secret agents essentially and test women against their will and do something that you couldn''t subject any other American to. You can''t--we have a right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures.

      O''REILLY: All right, but I think the key word here is unreasonable. Now I''m sure you''re aware that when a person goes into a hospital with a stab wound or a gunshot wound, anything like that, the police are automatically informed by the emergency room attendants. You''re aware of that, correct?

      LIEBERMAN: Yes.

      O''REILLY: All right. So if they''re going to be able to have that kind of a latitude in the legal system, why can''t they have the same latitude when a mother comes in, the doctor feels that the mother may be under the influence of narcotics because that''s...

      LIEBERMAN: That''s not the standard. That''s not the standard for this policy.

      O''REILLY: Where am I going wron9-here?

      LIEBERMAN: Well, the standard is...

      O''REILLY: They didn''t drug test everybody in Charleston; they drug tested people they believed were using narcotics.

      LIEBERMAN: They used a substitute for that, in fact. They drug tested women who hadn''t had prenatal care or had had limited...

      O''REILLY: Not all.

      LIEBERMAN: ... prenatal care. Those were the standards. Those were the standards. And they didn''t drug test women in the private hospitals. They only drug tested women in the public hospitals.

      O''REILLY: Here''s what the...

      LIEBERMAN: And they didn''t drug test people for all drugs for speed and other illegal substances.

      O''REILLY: ... evidence presented to the Supreme Court show. Here''s what the evidence showed. Here''s what they''re hearing. Now that''s what you said, but here''s what the evidence showed. The evidence showed that doctors--and you''re right, in the public hospitals--when they suspected a woman was under the influence of cocaine, amphetamines or heroin, tested, tested, unbeknownst to the woman. They just did their regular battery, all right. They didn''t test everybody. They only tested the people they suspected were under the influence of hard narcotics. Now why is that different than alerting to the police of somebody with a gunshot wound or a stab wound?

      LIEBERMAN: Because when you go in for medical care, for prenatal care, which is vital to the health of babies...

      O''REILLY: Correct.

      LIEBERMAN: ... right, then you have every reason to expect that what goes on between you and the doctor is confidential. There is no...

      O''REILLY: Well, why wouldn''t you have the same expectation if you had a gunshot wound?

      LIEBERMAN: But let''s talk about women in prenatal care. Let''s talk about that.

      O''REILLY: Why? I want to talk about the legal system in the United States.

      LIEBERMAN: Because people who are arrested for a crime, right, have a diminished expectation of privacy, OK.

      O''REILLY: But these people haven''t been arrested.

      LIEBERMAN: Right. But you can''t--you know, they can''t even take a blood test from somebody who is suspected of a crime without a court order.

      O''REILLY: That''s not true.

      LIEBERMAN: Yes, it is true.

      O''REILLY: No, you can..

      LIEBERMAN: And...

      O''REILLY: Whoa, wait. Ms. Lieberman, the Supreme Court ruled that you can drug test any person...

      LIEBERMAN: I said blood test...

      O''REILLY: I know, but you can drug test...

      LIEBERMAN: ... a blood test.

      O''REILLY: ... and that means pulling a hair, take it like that...

      LIEBERMAN: It connects them with finding out whether somebody has committed a crime.

      O''REILLY: But you can--for public safety reasons, anyone who is arrested can be drug tested so that the people know what condition they''re in.

      LIEBERMAN: A person who''s arrested is not a person who''s just going for prenatal care.

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