Sobriety checkpoint

A sobriety checkpoint is a police roadblock set up ostensibly to screen motorists to determine if they have been operating automobiles under the influence of alcohol. Sobriety checkpoints have become part of the well-publicized efforts to stop drunk driving on American highways. Powerful citizen advocacy groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) have influenced politicians and government officials to take steps such as lowering the blood alcohol threshold to determine legal intoxication and to support tactics such as sobriety checkpoints to stop drunk drivers. Yet, because of the potentially invasive nature of the sobriety checkpoint, the practice appears to threaten constitutional protections and challenge assumptions on the limitations of governmental powers.
The sobriety checkpoint is usually a short interruption of a driver’s journey that allows police to assess whether the driver is intoxicated. The delay is less invasive than an automobile search, where police officers physically examine the automobile, sometimes without a search warrant, when there is probable cause. Because police at a checkpoint stop all drivers, one has to assess whether the loss of some rights for a greater society good, such as removing drunk drivers from the roadways, is sufficient ground to allow government intrusion on all individual drivers. An expectation of privacy and having the right to travel without arbitrary actions by the government are reasonable and well within the context of constitutional protections provided for by Article IV of the Constitution as well as by the Fourth Amendment.
Two cases, Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz (1990) and Illinois v. Lidster (2004), provide legal standing for sobriety checkpoints. In Illinois v. Lidster, the Supreme Court determined that such checkpoints do not violate one’s Fourth Amendment rights. The Court further determined in the same case that the lacking of any individualized suspicion by the police cannot by itself determine the outcome of a case because, in the opinion of the Court, one’s car may not be treated as one’s home (see New York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106). Also, in Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz, the Supreme Court ruled that special law enforcement concerns can justify checkpoint stops even if there is no individualized suspicion. In short, the police can arrest a driver for drunk driving without knowing anything about that driver’s drinking until intoxication is discovered at the checkpoint.
What about individuals who neither drink nor wish to be subjected to sobriety checkpoints? The Court’s concern for overall societal benefits may outweigh individual interest. Again, the Michigan State Police case is especially significant because of the rather extensive rationale for sobriety checkpoints in the majority opinion by the late Chief Justice  Rehnquist. The following statements are part of that opinion: “No one can seriously dispute the magnitude of the drunken driving problem or the State’s interest in eradicating it. . . . In sum, the balance of the State’s interest in preventing drunken driving, the extent to which this system can reasonably be said to advance that interest, and the degree of intrusion upon individual motorists who are briefly stopped, weighs in favor of the state program” (496 U.S. 444).
The chief justice’s words make clear that the Court was weighing the merits of the rights of the individual against the interest of government. The majority opinion by Rehnquist remains the official position of the Court on sobriety checkpoints. However, Justice John Paul Stevens declared in his dissenting opinion, “Unfortunately the Court is transfixed by the wrong symbol, the illusory prospect of punishing countless intoxicated motorists, when it should keep its eyes on the road plainly marked by the Constitution.” So while the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of sobriety checkpoints, it also established specific guidelines for their use. Police are required to give notification of a checkpoint, and they cannot detain motorists for an unreasonable amount of time. The Court has also indicated that an arrest rate of less than 5 percent would raise questions of whether there is a legitimate government interest in the activity.
Subsequently, the decision has had an impact on sobriety checkpoints in other states. The United States Congress also conducted public hearings on drunk driving and its adverse impact. A federal statute was passed that allowed the secretary of transportation to withhold part of a state’s federal highway funds if the state did not pass laws requiring the drinking age to be at least twenty-one. The federal action was supported in the 1987 case of South Dakota v. Dole, 483 U.S. 203. Citizens have also been part of the widespread efforts that have resulted in public policies and judicial decisions that allow law enforcement officials to carry out sobriety checkpoints. As previously noted, MADD has been the catalyst for numerous public hearings on drunk driving and its impact at both the local and national levels. Public awareness programs and advertisements on the number of automobile accidents and deaths attributed to drunk driving have helped bring the issue to the public’s mind and to the attention of politicians. Other citizen groups, businesses, entertainment organizations, and government agencies have become advocates against drunk driving through supporting numerous public service announcements and advertisements. Thanks to modern technology, a causal surfing of the web resulted in this writer identifying more than 30 advocacy and community groups involved in this issue. Besides MADD, the array of advocacy groups against drugs and alcohol include Citizens Against Drug Impaired Drivers and Citizens for Reliable and Safe Highways. Business groups such as the National Association of Convenience Stores and entertainment organizations represented by the Entertainment Council, Inc., are listed as advocates against drunk driving. Professional groups such as the National Association of Broadcasters and government agencies such as the National Safety Transportation Board, United States Department of Transportation, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Department of Justice, and the United States Department of Education are also numbered as advocates against drunk driving. The support of government agencies is significant because their advocacy is often followed by official policies on a particular subject. This is especially true of the Department of Transportation division of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has issued guidelines for carrying out sobriety checkpoints. The Department of Transportation, under former secretary Elizabeth Dole, successfully defended the national government’s power to withhold a state’s federal highway funds when the state did not comply with a federal mandate to stop underage drinking.
The sobriety checkpoint is a policy that illustrates judicial balancing of individual privacy rights against the interests of the whole of society, and citizen influence. Because the court has provided legitimacy and rationale for stopping motorists to determine if they are intoxicated, the sobriety checkpoint has become a fixture for all who drive on American highways. The activities of powerful advocacy groups, particularly Mothers Against Drunk Driving, represent how citizens can impact decisionmakers. Such citizen influence guarantees that those inclined to drink and drive will likely face less than sympathetic law enforcement officials and judges. Motorists who are law abiding as well as nondrinkers will continue to experience the invasiveness of the sobriety checkpoint given the widespread public sup-port to stop drunken driving and the belief that sobriety checkpoints will both deter and catch drunk drivers.