Read more: Click here to read the original, longer version of this story
SCIENTISTS working on government space programmes must submit to extensive background checks as a condition of their employment. So ruled the US Supreme Court last week in a unanimous decision.
In 2005, 28 employees at NASA鈥檚 Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, filed a lawsuit seeking to bar the institution from requiring the checks. The plaintiffs claimed the enquiries gave NASA investigators permission to collect information that is irrelevant to their work, such as medical history, past drug use and sexual habits.
Advertisement
鈥淭he plaintiffs claimed the checks let NASA collect irrelevant data, such as a person鈥檚 sexual habits鈥�
But in the ruling, Justice Antonin Scalia wrote that it would be 鈥渇arcical鈥� to contend that individuals鈥� rights would bar the government from 鈥渆nsuring that the Hubble Telescope is not used by recovering drug addicts鈥�.
The plaintiffs will now face the choice between agreeing to the checks or losing their jobs.