Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/12pdf/11-1425_cb8e.pdf
Page Number: 37

8 

MISSOURI v. MCNEELY 

Opinion of ROBERTS, C. J. 

generally  NHTSA,  Use  of  Warrants  for  Breath  Test  Re-
fusal: Case Studies 6–32 (No. 810852, Oct. 2007) (overview 
of  procedures  in  Arizona,  Michigan,  Oregon,  and  Utah). 
Utah  has  an  e-warrant  procedure  where  a  police  officer 
enters  information  into  a  system,  the  system  notifies
a  prosecutor,  and  upon  approval  the  officer  forwards
the information to a magistrate, who can electronically re-
turn  a  warrant  to  the  officer.    Utah,  e-Warrants:  Cross 
Boundary Collaboration 1 (2008).  Judges have been known
to  issue  warrants  in  as  little  as  five  minutes.    Bergreen,
Faster  Warrant  System  Hailed,  Salt  Lake  Tribune,  Dec. 
26, 2008, p. B1, col. 1.  And in one county in Kansas, police 
officers  can  e-mail  warrant  requests  to  judges’  iPads; 
judges have signed such warrants and e-mailed them back 
to officers in less than 15 minutes.  Benefiel, DUI Search 
Warrants: Prosecuting DUI Refusals, 9 Kansas Prosecutor 
17, 18 (Spring 2012).  The police are presumably familiar
with  the  mechanics  and  time  involved  in  the  warrant 
process in their particular jurisdiction. 

III
 
A 

In  a  case  such  as  this,  applying  the  exigent  circum-
stances  exception  to  the  general  warrant  requirement  of 
the Fourth Amendment seems straightforward: If there is
time  to  secure  a  warrant  before  blood  can  be  drawn,  the 
police  must  seek  one.    If  an  officer  could  reasonably  con-
clude that there is not sufficient time to seek and receive a 
warrant,  or  he  applies  for  one  but  does  not  receive  a  re-
sponse  before  blood  can  be  drawn,  a  warrantless  blood 
draw may ensue.  See Tyler, supra, at 509; see also Illinois 
v.  Rodriguez,  497  U. S.  177,  185–186  (1990)  (“in  order  to
satisfy  the  ‘reasonableness’  requirement  of  the  Fourth 
Amendment,  what  is  generally  demanded  of  the  many
factual determinations that must regularly be made by . . . 
police officer[s] conducting a search or seizure under one of