The Nation - News from July 27, 1988

Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor refused to permit the federal government to give drug tests to federal prison employees while a lawsuit over the practice is pending. She denied without comment an emergency government request for a stay of a lower court injunction against testing during the lawsuit. The American Federation of Government Employees is suing to overturn the Bureau of Prisons’ plan to require random testing of 5% to 10% of about 13,000 prison employees each year. The union contends that the testing violates, among other things, the constitutional prohibition against illegal searches.