{"id":7248,"date":"2012-07-25T15:36:38","date_gmt":"2012-06-06T07:32:44","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-06-06T07:32:44","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=7248","title":{"rendered":"VA: Drivers’ license checkpoint constitutional"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201ccheckpoint,\u201d without hardly telling us what for, was valid where it snared the defendant, a habitual driving offender with no license. Desposito v. Commonwealth<\/a>, 726 S.E.2d 355 (Va. App. 2012):<\/p>\n

Appellant’s challenge to the validity of the checkpoint is limited to two points: (1) the supervisor’s direction that the checkpoint should be conducted “during the lunchtime” leaves the officers with unbridled discretion as to the time of operation; and (2) the plan is flawed because while it requires a 30-minute minimum operational duration, the plan does not establish a maximum time, thus allowing the officers at the checkpoint to determine the duration of the operation. These omissions, appellant contends, render the checkpoint constitutionally unsound, thus violating his Fourth Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

“As a preliminary matter, checkpoints with the primary objective of enforcing safety requirements are constitutional.” Wright v. Commonwealth<\/a>, 52 Va. App. 263, 268, 663 S.E.2d 108, 111 (2008) (citing Delaware v. Prouse<\/a>, 440 U.S. 648, 658 (1979)); see also Palmer v. Commonwealth<\/a>, 36 Va. App. 169, 172, 549 S.E.2d 29, 30 (2001) (holding the purpose of a checkpoint was valid when officers stopped vehicles to look for “any violations on the vehicles, such as drivers’ license, equipment, [or] inspection”).<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

The reasonableness of such seizures, which are less intrusive than a traditional arrest, depends “on a balance between the public interest and the individual’s right to personal security free from arbitrary interference by law officers.” Brown v. Texas, 443 U.S. 47, 50-51 (1979) (citing Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 434 U.S. 106, 109 (1977)). In considering the constitutionality of these seizures on appeal, we must weigh “the gravity of the public concerns served by the seizure, the degree to which the seizure advances the public interest, and the severity of the interference with individual liberty.” Id. at 51.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is the public interest in stopping everybody to look for a driver’s license? Bank robbers, kidnapers [Brinegar v. United States<\/a>, 338 U.S. 160, 183 (1949) (Jackson, J., dissenting)], DUIs? Yes<\/a>. General crime control, no.<\/a> I just cannot accept that a driver’s license checkpoint is constitutional under Edmund<\/a> or Sitz<\/a>. And, yes, Prouse was decided in 1979, and its throwaway reference to driver’s license checkpoints was wrong then and it’s still wrong. If SCOTUS is concerned about “it could happen to us,” then they might now agree. To quote “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,”<\/a> “Uh, what country do you think this is?” American highways are not constitution free zones.<\/p>\n

Please, somebody, take this up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

b2evALnk.b2WPAutP Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"pingsdone","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7248"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7248\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}