Opinion ID: 2633783
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: May a Driver Raise a Fourth Amendment Claim in an Administrative Hearing?

Text: The rule that a constitutional issue cannot be decided by an administrative agency does not necessarily preclude a driver from raising such an issue in that forum. Our previous cases do not preclude Martin's effort to raise his Fourth Amendment claim before the Department. See, e.g., CIG, 279 Kan. at 864, 112 P.3d 138; Sprint, 278 Kan. at 700-02, 101 P.3d 1239; see also Mudd v. Neosho Memorial Regional Med. Center, 275 Kan. 187, 197-200, 62 P.3d 236 (2003) (workers compensation case; merits of constitutional question addressed, even though issue not decided below). In fact, our decision in similar circumstances in Bruch v. Kansas Dept. of Revenue, 282 Kan. 764, 148 P.3d 538 (2006), makes raising any potentially controlling constitutional issue at the time of the administrative hearing the wise course for a driver who wishes to preserve the issue for judicial review in the district court and beyond. 282 Kan. at 776, 148 P.3d 538. In Bruch, we stated that the district court lacked jurisdiction to consider whether an officer possessed probable cause to arrest based on results of a driver's preliminary breath test, because the driver had failed to raise the issue first in the administrative tribunal. 282 Kan. at 776, 148 P.3d 538.