et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - Significance, One Checkpoint Attempt, Challenged Immediately, Brown V. Texas, What About Airport Checkpoints?

et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - Further Readings

et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - Significance

The ruling gave state authorities a powerful tool for curbing drunk driving, as it allowed police to stop all cars at checkpoints and look for drunken drivers. This stop is a "reasonable" seizure under the Fourth Amendment, since the checkpoints are an effective way to reduce drunk driving, reducing drunk driving is a legitimate state concern, and the sobriety checks are not intrusive on drivers. …

et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - One Checkpoint Attempt

In Michigan's case, an advisory committee consisting of both law enforcement and civilian transportation experts met to set specific guidelines for the location, techniques used, and advance publicity about a sobriety checkpoint program. These were cautiously devised parameters that tried to follow constitutional precedents, after the committee members had examined the elements of others states' s…

et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - Challenged Immediately

The day before the checkpoint program was initiated, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit in Wayne County Circuit Court on behalf of a group of licensed Michigan drivers opposed to sobriety checkpoints. The "Sitz" name in the case belonged to Rick Sitz, a state representative in Michigan's House. The petitioners sought an injunction against such checkpoints, and Wayne County Circuit Court…

et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - Brown V. Texas

The Michigan State Police then filed an appeal with the Michigan State Court of Appeals. Like the lower court, this judicial body used the Brown v. Texas balancing test. Brown, named after a U.S. Supreme Court decision, provided guidelines for establishing the constitutionality of intrusions onto citizens' rights against unreasonable search and seizure. (It had already been determined that stoppin…

et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - What About Airport Checkpoints?

et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - The Decision

The Court, ruling on 14 June 1990, overturned the Michigan courts' decisions by a vote of 6-3. In his majority opinion, Chief Justice Rehnquist opined that such "seizures" were indeed reasonable, even though the one percent detention rate seemed minuscule. Rehnquist noted that the inconvenience presented to motorists was a slight one, and was superseded by the sobriety checkpoint's goal in deterri…

et al. Michigan Department of State Police v. Sitz - Drunk Driving Statistics