Judge orders courtroom spectators to submit to drug tests

Benjamin Marchet of South Carolina has filed suit in Federal Court in Tennessee alleging that Dickson County (TN) Judge Durwood Moore ordered him to submit to a urine test on a hunch that he might have been on something. Okay, judges ordering defendants to take drug tests isn't anything out of the ordinary -- and typically not violating the law is a condition of bond.

Only thing is that Mr. Marchet wasn't a defendant. He was a spectator in Judge Moore's courtroom.

In his response to Mr. Marchet's claim that the judge lacked probable cause or reasonable suspicion to order the drug test, Judge Moore defended his actions by saying it was the routine policy of his court.

Well it's also routine policy in Harris County to deny appointed counsel to anyone who is able to post bond and to deny requests for personal bonds for defendants who can't post bond. That doesn't make it right, either.