In Kentucky, you must submit to a breathalyzer test if the officer arrests you for a DUI. Like many other states, this law states that when you receive your driver’s license or get behind the wheel of a car, you consent to a BAC test. While breathalyzers make sense to many drivers, others find that blood tests are too intrusive. Kentucky law provides for mandatory blood tests after an arrest. Does the Supreme Court agree?

NPR explains how the Fourth Amendment is normally what requires police to have a warrant before they can ask for a blood test. In Wisconsin, this question came up. Do people driving on a public road automatically give consent to a blood draw? The Supreme Court says yes. In certain circumstances, they do not have to have a warrant.

Previous court rulings have said the opposite. Justices in the past have said that it is a bodily intrusion. This is the case for those who are unconscious after an accident. The justices prove that this is a difficult case to decide. Are there emergencies that allow exceptions for Fourth Amendment protections? The reason that it is important to get a blood test right away is because the BAC drops significantly, as time passes. Police need to know the BAC at the time of the accident.

In Kentucky, if you drive, you agree that by driving you are subject to testing under the circumstances that you face arrest due to a DUI.

None of the above is intended to be legal advice. It is for educational purposes only.