Schmerber v. California - Significance

Schmerber v. California brought about a period of increased pro-government decisions concerning the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments' prohibition of unreasonable and arbitrary searches and seizures, undermining the previous trend of pro-individual decisions dating back to 1886 in Boyd v. United States. The Court's decision also provided law enforcement agents, especially police and prosecutors, with a strong scientific method for determining intoxication. Furthermore, courts used this case as a starting point for rulings on compulsory employee drug testing in later decades.