Ferguson v. City of Charleston

In Ferguson v. City of Charleston (2001) 532 U.S. 67, hospital officials of the City of Charleston became concerned about the number of expectant mothers using cocaine while pregnant. Staff members of the public hospital in cooperation with law enforcement officials developed a protocol to conduct drug tests on expectant mothers who came in for checkups. If the urine tested positive, the police were notified. The idea behind the program was to get the expectant mothers into counseling; but, if counseling did not work, the mothers were subject to prosecution. The Supreme Court defined the issue thusly ". . . whether the interest in using the threat of criminal sanctions to deter pregnant women from using cocaine can justify a departure from the general rule that an official nonconsensual search is unconstitutional if not authorized by a valid warrant." (Id. at p. 70.)