Kansas Finds DWI Implied Consent Law Unconstitutional

Posted On February 07, 2014 by Daniel Koewler February 07, 2014

In 2012, we released a blog detailing the ruling in a then-unremarkable case out of the State of Missouri - a little case captioned Missouri v. McNeely.

Since then, the McNeely case has gotten a little more press.

Today, America's heartland issued another decision that may have broad reaching consequences in the future. A Kansas Appellate Court just ruled that their DWI Implied Consent law is unconstitutional. Specifically, the case of State v. DeClerck concluded that the purportedly "implied consent to chemical testing given by drivers on our state's roads" is absolutely not the same thing as "consent under the Fourth Amendment."

The Court repeatedly said, in no uncertain terms, that statutes like the Implied Consent law can not and do not trump constitutional principles, like the right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures. In the end, the State of Kansas concluded that you cannot demand that driver's give up their Constitutional rights just by getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.

These same arguments are being raised in Minnesota, and will likely make their way to the United States Supreme Court in the same way that McNeely did. But until that happens, we'll continue to fight this issue out case by case, judge by judge, county by county.