Justice Kennedy said the Government had a compelling interest in being able to test railroad workers without a showing of "individualized suspicion."
In justifying this result, the Court dispenses with a requirement of individualized suspicion on considered policy grounds.
But whether a blanket search is "better" than a regime based on individualized suspicion is not a debate in which we should engage.
While the Fourth Amendment is generally taken to prohibit coercive searches without individualized suspicion, he said, the courts have repeatedly recognized exceptions.
Ordinarily, a brief investigatory stop requires individualized suspicion.
In the case of seeking information from the public, the Court reasoned, "the concept of individualized suspicion has little role to play.
Rather, our checkpoint cases have recognized only limited exceptions to the general rule that a seizure must be accompanied by some measure of individualized suspicion.
We are particularly reluctant to recognize exceptions to the general rule of individualized suspicion where governmental authorities primarily pursue their general crime control ends.
The justices found that the police lacked "individualized suspicion" that the drivers they stopped might be engaged in crime.
The Fourth Amendment requires individualized suspicion before the government can conduct a search.