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Washington State Says ?No? to DUI Roadblocks

By Lawrence Taylor

As many of you know, the United States Supreme Court in Michigan v. Sitz found that although sobriety checkpoints were apparent violations of the Fourth Amendment, they were only ”minor” violations.  Permitting police to stop citizens without reason to believe they had done anything wrong, Chief Justice Rehnquist said, was permissible in view of the government’s ongoing “War on Drunk Driving”.  (See my earlier post, ”DUI Sobriety Checkpoints: Unconstitutional?”) Subsequently, politicians — fearful of MADD’s influence at the polls — have authorized the use of DUI roadblocks in 41 states.  Others, including Washington State, have rebelled at this refusal to protect their citizens’ right to privacy and have banned the practice by relying upon their own state constitutions...continue to full post

Full post as published by DUI Blog on February 14, 2008 (boomark / email).