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Supreme Court Limits Warrantless Forced Blood Tests for DUI Suspects

By Jeralyn, Section Supreme Court
Posted on Wed Apr 17, 2013 at 05:54:55 PM EST
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The Supreme Court today ruled in Missouri v. McNeely (opinion here) that the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does not constitute an exigency in every case sufficient to justify conducting a blood test without a warrant.

The majority opinion was written by Justice Sotomayor. There were two concurring and one dissenting opinions.

While the court didn't say a warrant was needed, it made clear officers shouldn't assume one is not needed. Scotus Blog explains: [More...]

The Sotomayor opinion stressed that getting a warrant should be the default protocol in drunk-driving cases where officers decide to have a blood test made. That opinion said that the mere fact that alcohol in the blood does dissipate over time is not enough, by itself, to do away totally with the requirement for a search warrant.

...That opinion also stressed that state and local governments have adopted a number of new procedures that make it easier, and faster, to get blood-test warrants, and that those procedures will help to assure that blood alcohol evidence does not disappear before a test could be made. “Our ruling will not severely hamper law enforcement,” Justice Sotomayor wrote.

The lone dissenter who thinks a warrant should never be required: Clarence Thomas.

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    Supreme Court Limits Warrantless Forced Blood Tests for DUI Suspects | 9 comments (9 topical)

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