Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Court rules Nevada implied consent law is unconstitutional

A law that allows police to forcibly take blood samples from drivers without a warrant is unconstitutional, the Nevada Supreme Court ruled today.

The court found the state’s implied consent law, which assumes anyone who drives on Nevada roads has automatically consented to testing, is problematic because drivers don’t have the option to revoke or modify their consent.

In other jurisdictions with implied consent laws, drivers may be fined or face criminal or administrative penalties if they refuse to submit to a test, the court noted.

Nevada provides no such choice, the court said. Instead, police are permitted to use “reasonable force” to obtain blood samples.

The decision came in a case in which a man reportedly refused to consent to a blood test after being pulled over in Churchill County. He was transported to a hospital, where he struggled and hit officers as his blood was drawn, according to the decision.

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