This puts a damper on no refusal weekends, when the police could force someone they pull over to give blood to determine alcohol levels on the grounds that it enhanced public safety. But questions about its constitutionality - based on either the Texas or US Constitutions - remained. Here's a defense attorney's take on the issue.
Now they need a warrant.
Here's a bit from the Chron:
"We hold that a nonconsensual search of a DWI suspect's blood conducted pursuant to the mandatory-blood-draw and implied-consent provisions in the Transportation Code, when undertaken in the absence of a warrant or any applicable exception to the warrant requirement, violates the Fourth Amendment," Judge Elsa Alcala of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals wrote on behalf of the five majority opinion judges. Four members of the nine-judge court dissented.
The ruling stems from the 2012 case of David Villarreal, who was pulled over in Nueces County for a traffic violation. After refusing to perform sobriety tests in the field, Villarreal was arrested and taken to a local hospital to have his blood drawn against his will and without a warrant. The arresting officer said the move was legal because state law requires the taking of a breath or blood sample of anyone previously convicted two or more times of driving while intoxicated.
And a few other sources:
- Court records related to the case.
- ScotusBlog: Missouri v. McNeely.
- Tex. Transp. Code § 724.012.
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