Supreme Court to Decide Criminalizing Breath Test Refusals

Posted Tuesday, December 15, 2015 by Andrew Charles Huff

The U.S. Supreme Court will soon decide whether states can criminalize refusing a breath test if arrested for DUI. Thirteen states already have such laws.

In 2013, the Supreme Court ruled in the McNeely decision that police generally have to obtain a warrant before drawing blood without consent. But to get around the warrant requirement, some states have made refusing a breath test a separate crime. Defendants in the case before the Supreme Court argue that these laws violates the Fourth Amendment’s ban on unreasonable search and seizures.

Washington does not criminalize refusing a breath test but a person can face licensing consequences and a refusal can be used in trial.