The legal challenge or 'judicial review' is a means by which the courts can supervise bodies which exercise public functions to ensure that they are acting both lawfully and fairly.
Under Operation Nutmeg, which runs in England and Wales, DNA has been gathered from people jailed for serious crimes before routine collection.
R - who was jailed for manslaughter in the 1980s but after his release was in trouble for a lesser, non violent offence - argued that he had turned his life around since 2000.
The police force contacted him in March and delivered a letter which told him that because he had a previous conviction for a serious offence he was being asked to give the officer a DNA sample.
The letter went on to say that if he chose not to, he would be required to attend a police station within seven days and if he failed to do that he could be liable to arrest.
The court's power of judicial review has emerged primarily from case law, with judges seemingly giving themselves discretion to hold the public bodies accountable.
This has not been without controversy since many people consider that unelected judges should not get in the way of publicly elected decisions.
The client believed his human rights had been breached because he had a right to a private life.
Lord Justice Pitchford at the High Court said that the request was both "lawful and proportionate".
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