Judge to NASA Hippies: Get Badged or Get Fired

I wrote previously about a group of whining liberals at the Jet Propulsion Laboratories at Cal Tech who were suing so they wouldn’t have to get new badges like every other federal employee in the United States.  They didn’t want to get fingerprinted so the US can screen out known felons and they didn’t want to undergo a financial background check to screen out people who are vulnerable to bribery and extortion.  And they certainly didn’t want to answer any questions about how much dope they smoke. 

If they don’t go along with the new badging requirements, they get fired.

The judge ruled that NASA should temporarily not ask the employees directly if they use drugs.  I guess the professional investigators who do background checks will just ask their neighbors, as is standard practice for a clearance or a position of trust.

From the AP here:

A federal judge on Monday said he planned to temporarily bar NASA from asking workers at one of its research centers during background checks whether they had ever used drugs.

The drug use question was only a small part of a lawsuit filed by 28 scientists, engineers and staff at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena who claimed the new security measures invaded their privacy.

U.S. District Court Judge Otis Wright said he wanted to balance workers’ rights with national security.  “I don’t want to see these employees hurt … but I want the security of this nation preserved,” Wright said. “I don’t want any sleepers infiltrating NASA or JPL.”

Wright’s written order was expected later this week. He set an Oct. 19 hearing to decide whether to grant a broader injunction preventing NASA from asking other personal questions.

JPL employees have until Friday to fill out forms authorizing the background checks. Those who don’t will be barred from JPL and be “voluntarily terminated” as of Oct. 27.

I also think that the injunction will be over-ruled on appeals.  So now we need to sit back and watch the mass exodus of self-absorbed hippies march out of JPL when they refuse to comply with ID requirements.  McDonalds is always hiring, but watch out!  They are allowed to ask if you do drugs at the interview.