Thursday, January 07, 2010
Dickson County Courthouse
Judge Durwood Moore of Dickson County, Tennessee, used to force spectators in his courtroom to submit to random drug tests—until the state’s judicial oversight body censured Moore for violating peoples’ constitutional rights. Moore finally went too far when he ordered Benjamin Marchant, who was in Moore’s courtroom to observe a friend’s trial, to take a drug test, because the judge thought Marchant was under the influence. Moore claimed he routinely ordered visitors to his court to be screened for drugs without any evidence of wrongdoing. In the case of Marchant, his test came back negative.
Marchant then filed a complaint with the Tennessee Supreme Court’s Judiciary Court, which in turn censured Moore for his behavior. The Judiciary Court wrote: “This public censure represents the highest degree of judicial discipline authorized by law short of the Court seeking a judgment recommending your removal as a judge from office. In the future you are to accord all citizens who appear in your court their constitutional rights and they shall not be seized on your suspicion for unauthorized drug tests. Each individual who appears before you shall be afforded their due process rights and shall be properly charged and noticed before any adverse action is taken against them.”
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Man Says Judge Arrested Him 'On a Hunch' (by Liz Potocsnak, Courthouse News Service)
Benjamin Marchant v. Judge Durwood Moore (U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, Nashville Division) (pdf)
Public Censure Notice of Judge Durwood Moore (Supreme Court of Tennessee) (pdf)
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