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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Federal Judge: Michigan Breath Test Law For Pedestrians Under 21 Unconstitutional September 26, 2007 A federal judge in Detroit today struck down as unconstitutional a Michigan law that allows police to force pedestrians under the age of 21 to take a Breathalyzer test without first obtaining a search warrant. In a 32-page opinion, U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson struck down the state’s Minor in Possession (MIP) law because it “authorizes police officers to perform a search of minors without a warrant or legal excuse for not obtaining one” in violation of their Fourth Amendment rights. The decision does not apply to drivers of a motor vehicle and allows police officers to administer breath tests without warrants in emergencies. Michigan is among a handful of states nationwide with an MIP law that makes it illegal for young adults and minors who are pedestrians to refuse a Breathalyzer test even though police do not have a search warrant. Those who refuse to take tests in Michigan are guilty of a civil infraction and must pay a $100 fine. In addition, police in some places — including Michigan State University — tell students that if they refuse to submit to a Breathalyzer upon demand that they could spend up to a dozen hours in jail. The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed the lawsuit involved on behalf of four people in two separate incidents. Two Saginaw County women, Katie Platte and Ashley Berden, represented by the ACLU claimed Thomas Township police in Saginaw County forced them to submit to breath tests even though they had not been drinking. Two Mount Pleasant men, Cullin Stewart and Sam Maness, claimed they were also forced to submit to testing by the “Party Patrol, ” which is comprised of officers from the Mount Pleasant Police Department, the Michigan State Police, Central Michigan University Police Department and the Isabella County Sheriff’s Department. "This is a tremendous victory for the civil liberties of young adults," Kary Moss, Executive Director of the ACLU of Michigan said in a prepared statement. "For years, police officers throughout Michigan have violated the rights of countless college students and others under the age of 21 by forcing them to submit to breathalyzers without a court order.” Moss said all defendants except the State of Michigan, the Michigan State Police and Thomas Township settled their cases before today’s ruling. The ACLU release said that Platte was 19 years old when she went to a small party in Thomas Township in July 2004 in honor of a high school classmate who had enlisted in the Marines and was leaving for Iraq. Although Platte insisted she had not been drinking any alcoholic beverages, the township police told her and others at the party that if they refused to take a breath test they would go to jail. “You’re supposed to be innocent until proven guilty, but in this case, young people were assumed guilty until they proved they’re innocent by having to take a Breathalyzer test,” Platte said in a prepared release from the Michigan ACLU. He noted that he “wasn’t drinking or causing a problem. Berden was 18 years old when she attended a party at a friend’s house to celebrate her graduation from Swan Valley High School. After she left the party, the Michigan ACLU said Thomas Township police officers arrived and found her purse which she had mistakenly left behind. Police went to Berden’s house at 4 a.m., woke up her family and demanded that she take a breath test, the ACLU said. Although police didn’t have a warrant, the ACLU claimed Berden was informed that she would be violating the law if she refused the test. She registered a .00 percent blood-alcohol level. The state MIP law considers a pedestrian under 21 to be intoxicated with a blood-alcohol level of .02 or more. The Michigan ACLU claimed in its suit that Stewart and Maness were at a chaperoned graduation party in May, 2003 when the “Party Patrol” arrived. The Central Michigan students were then placed in a circle with others who had been detained. and asked whether or not they had consumed any alcohol. Mr. Stewart told police truthfully that he had not been drinking, the ACLU said, but he was still required to submit to a breath test. Judge Lawson’s decision today strikes down Michigan’s MIP law. In a similar case in 2003, the judge struck down a Bay City ordinance based on the state law. The ACLU said that after Lawson’s 2003 decision, Legal Director Michael J. Steinberg sent letters or e-mails to 425 city, village and university attorneys advising them to instruct their police to stop forcing minors to take unconstitutional breath tests.halyzer tests. Attorneys Marshall Widick, William Street and David A. Moran, along with the Steinberg and Moss law firm, cooperated with the Michigan ACLU in filing suit.
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#1. To: Brian S (#0)
(Edited)
Uh huh. A small potatoes victory for the "civil liberties of young adults" in the grand scheme of things. Why hasn't the ACLU challenged the federal mandate of Selective Service registration of young adults as potential cannon fodder? Isn't that a more important example of arbitrary governmental abuse of the civil rights of young adults and of only male young adults at that?
Actually if you google "ACLU and Selective Service" you will find a nights worth of references were the ACLU has challenged the Selective Service.
Never swear "allegiance" to anything other than the 'right to change your mind'!
I'll have to check their site. I haven't read or heard about any serious court challenges to Selective Service registration that has been generated by the ACLU. The most recent SS court case challenge that comes to mind happened approx 2 years ago or so. A parent who was a lawyer and who had a tennage daughter as well as a son mounted a legal challenge on behalf of his children regarding the gender unfairness of Selective Service. His legal challenge did not go too far. I thought he was doing the legal work himself without any help from the ACLU.
A mere pebble on the road to fascism.
"First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win." --Mahatma Gandhi
There should be a slogan for this. Monty Python had "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" I'm dry.
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