Supreme Court Declines To Hear Arizona Case Seeking Random Drug Testing Of Firefighters

PHOENIX (AP) -- The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday let stand an Arizona ruling that said random drug testing of a Mesa firefighter would violate his privacy rights.

However, the Phoenix Fire Department said it still has legal grounds to continue its own random testing.

The nation's high court, without comment, declined to rule on Mesa's appeal of the Arizona Supreme Court's ruling that the drug tests -- never implemented by Mesa because of the Craig Petersen's challenge -- would violate the firefighter's Fourth Amendment rights.

The Arizona Supreme Court's January ruling said Mesa did not provide evidence that substance abuse was a widespread problem among firefighters that warranted testing.

Mesa City Attorney Deborah Spinner said the Arizona Supreme Court decision is now binding.

``What the Arizona Supreme Court said is, unless there is some history in the fire department, that random drug testing is not permissible under the U.S. Constitution,'' Spinner said.

Phoenix officials said past drug use by Phoenix firefighters in the early 1980s provides a legal basis under the Arizona ruling for continued testing.

``Way back we had some people using drugs illegally,'' said Assistant Fire Chief Bob Kahn. ``We established enough of a baseline.''

``The city of Phoenix is situated differently from the city of Mesa,'' said Sandra Hunter, a Phoenix assistant city attorney.

The United Phoenix Firefighters Association's president, Billy Shields, said there is still substance abuse within the department and that the testing is aimed at detecting it and steering those involved into treatment programs.

Lawyers for Petersen contended that the policies were particularly arbitrary and unjust because the Mesa department did not have any history of substance abuse.

Mesa had argued in part that it had a special need to conduct testing without any suspicion aimed at individual firefighters because their jobs now demand a high level of performance and speedy response, particularly after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Mesa was supported by the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace as well as the National League of Cities, which represents 18,000 municipalities around the country.

The groups argued in friend-of-the-court briefs that the Arizona ruling could undermine much-needed drug testing for first responders and other city employees whose performance is critical in an emergency, such as a terrorist attack.

Mesa also was supported by a brief filed on behalf of the League of Arizona Cities and Towns and by the cities of Phoenix, Kingman, Peoria, Prescott, Somerton and Yuma, Spinner said.

Under the Arizona ruling, cities may still conduct drug tests if they have reasonable suspicion an individual firefighter is abusing drugs, or if a firefighter is involved in an accident on the job.

Spinner said Mesa also can and will continue to test firefighters under consideration for a promotion.

The Phoenix testing program was crafted by labor and management and subjects all personnel, from new hires to top commanders, to annual testing, Shields said.

Everybody knows they'll be tested, providing the early notification that is required to have the program stand up in court, Shields said.

The U.S. Supreme Court case is Mesa v. Petersen, 03-1599.