Opinion ID: 1450944
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Rejection of the Primacy Approach

Text: The State argues this case under the state constitution, conceding that the roadblock violated the Fourth Amendment. Therefore, the only possible reason the State's concession could render this case moot is that we have looked first to the federal constitution. By holding that this case is moot, we have implicitly rejected the primacy approach to interpreting our state constitution. Under the primacy approach, we would look first to decide the issue under the state constitution; if the state constitution resolves the issue, we would not even consider the federal constitution. See Milo S. Marsden, The Utah Supreme Court and the Utah State Constitution, 1986 Utah L.Rev. 319, 326 (citing Hans Linde, Without Due Process , 49 Or.L.Rev. 125, 133 (1970)). Were we to apply the primacy approach in this case, the State's concession under the federal constitution would be irrelevant unless we first held the search to be valid under the state constitution. This we have not done. We have therefore necessarily rejected the primacy approach in this case. [1]