Managers and the Legal Environment 7th Edition by David Madsen, Constance Bagley

Exercise 3

The Supreme Court has recognized that administrative inspections may be conducted without warrants in some situations when a company's business concerns an industry that has a history of government oversight and, as a result, has a reduced expectation of privacy. The Court has held that a warrantless search will be found reasonable in the context of a pervasively regulated business if (1) there is a "substantial" government interest underlying the regulatory scheme pursuant to which the search is made; (2) the warrantless inspection is necessary to further the regulatory scheme; and (3) the inspection program, in terms of the certainty and regularity of its application, provides a constitutionally adequate substitute for a warrant. Based on this standard, would the Court allow warrantless administrative inspections to occur in the following industries: (a) firearms, (b) mining, (c) pharmaceutical, and (d) computer software design? [ In re Subpoenas Duces Tecum , 51 F. Supp. 2d 726 (W.D. Va. 1999).]