According to this article in the Miami Herald, http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/04/26/27...r-to.html, a federal judge has thrown out a Florida law that required random drug testing for all state workers and for all new hires. The article is pretty clear on the Supreme Court precedents. My question - why is it legal for private employers to require a drug test for all new employees but not for a state?

IANAL, nor do I have any inside information re drug testing laws, but just a guess would be fact that a government performing drug tests on such a wide swath of people might represent an unreasonable search under the 4th amendment, whereas a private entity (not acting as agent of the govt) performing those same actions might not. Thus a private entity may have the ability to test all employees while a govt might need a specific reason (job type which could endanger self/others or probable cause).