https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle-old/364 /hair.shtml

The US 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia ruled late last month that police may remove and drug test large amounts of hair from a suspect's head, neck and shoulders without a warrant or probable cause. The ruling came in the case of a Pennsylvania state trooper who was forced to provide hair samples after his superiors suspected he was using drugs. No drug residues were found in the hair samples, and the trooper subsequently sued the Pennsylvania State Police for violating his Fourth Amendment right to be free of unwarranted, unreasonable searches and seizures. The trooper, William Coddington, lost in federal district court, and the appeals court decision upheld that ruling.

According to the logic of the 3rd Circuit, the Fourth Amendment does not apply to one's hair. Since most body hair is visible, individuals have no reasonable expectation of privacy and taking a hair sample is thus not a search, the court reasoned. "The taking of hair is not subject to restrictions imposed by the Fourth Amendment," the court held.

Since the Fourth Amendment governs both search and seizure, the ruling strongly implies that police can also seize (for whatever purpose) hair without a warrant or probable cause.

That ruling caught the attention of Rutgers Law School professor and Findlaw columnist Sherry Kolb who pronounced it "bizarre" and "wrong as a matter of logic and constitutional analysis."

"For the police to behave as they allegedly did toward Coddington, without having to act on suspicion or otherwise justify their actions, is a frightening prospect," wrote Kolb. "And make no mistake. Under the 3rd Circuit's approach, the police can shave the hair of anyone who appears in public at any time. They do not need to have any reason whatsoever for suspecting the unwitting shavee of a crime."

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