Court Opinion

ID: 9859193
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 19:09:48.079682+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T10:08:27.349791
License: Public Domain

LEVINE, Justice,
concurring in the result.
I take issue with footnote 6 and its attempt to equate the pretext involved in a looking-for-drugs checkpoint, see State v. Everson, 474 N.W.2d 695 (N.D.1991), the constitutionality of which has not been decided by the United States Supreme Court, with the so-called “pretext” of the sobriety checkpoint in this ease. It’s the old apples-and-oranges fallacy. The constitutionality of the sobriety checkpoint depends upon the absence of pretext. The safety of the vehicle and sobriety of the driver each has been deemed of sufficient public interest to make a brief, publicized, nondiseretionary seizure reasonable under the Fourth Amendment even without individualized suspicion. See Michigan Dep’t of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444, 110 S.Ct. 2481 (1990); Delaware v. Prouse, 440 U.S. 648, 99 S.Ct. 1391, 59 L.Ed.2d 660 (1979).
In Sitz, the purpose of the sobriety checkpoint stop was to implement the strong public interest in having licensed sober drivers on public roads by deterring intoxicated persons from driving on those roads. No comparable public interest has been enunciated yet by the United States Supreme Court that would constitutionalize checkpoints for general law enforcement purposes to catch criminals. Indeed, if the primary purpose of the sobriety checkpoint stop were to detect crime or make arrests of drunk drivers, an individualized suspicion of wrongdoing would be required by the Fourth Amendment and certainly, by article I, section 8 of the North Dakota Constitution. See, e.g., Ingersoll v. Palmer, 241 Cal.Rptr. 42, 46, 743 P.2d 1299, 1303-04 (1987) [concluding that sobriety checkpoints primarily promote public safety and therefore do not require an individualized suspicion of wrongdoing under the federal and state constitutions]. And the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of reasonableness, to-wit, individualized suspicion, may only be repealed by action of the states, and not by the United States Supreme Court or this court. U.S. Const, art. V. Because Everson condoned a stop, the express purpose of which was to discover evidence of crime and make arrests for commission of that crime, I remain convinced that Everson was wrongly decided. However, I agree that Everson plays no part in this case because neither party relies on it.
Article I, section 8 of our state constitution requires us to protect the integrity of the individual freedom it ensures North Dako-tans against unwanted, uninvited, unreasonable government interference. In criminal law, government interference, to be reasonable, must be accomplished by probable cause generally, individualized suspicion occasionally and until recently, never without one or the other.
In upholding the sobriety checkpoint in Sitz, supra, the Supreme Court used a balancing test, applicable generally to administrative proceedings, see Camara v. Municipal Court, 387 U.S. 523, 87 S.Ct. 1727, 18 L.Ed.2d 930 (1967), in which it weighed the gravity of the public concerns served by the checkpoint stop against the degree to which the seizure advanced the public interest against the degree to which the seizure interfered with individual liberty. Suffice it to say, individual liberty lost the Supreme Court’s weigh-in. We need not decide in this case whether we should accept the federal balancing method of analysis for interpreting our state constitution, see, e.g., Sitz v. Department of State Police, 443 Mich. 744, 506 N.W.2d 209 (1993), because even if we did accept the balancing scheme, under the North Dakota constitution, it is this court, not the United States Supreme Court, that does the weigh-in and this court should weigh the relevant factors independently under the North Dakota constitution. See, e.g., Ascher v. Commissioner of Pub. Safety, 505 N.W.2d 362 (Minn.Ct.App.1993).
Were we to apply a balancing test, the state would bear the burden of proof by a preponderance of the evidence to establish the reasonableness of the checkpoint stop made without a warrant or individualized suspicion. See State v. Kirk, 493 A.2d 1271 *382(N.J.Super.Ct.App.Div.1985); State v. Blackburn, 63 Ohio Misc.2d 211, 620 N.E.2d 319 (Clark County Mun.Ct.1993); see also State v. Orr, 375 N.W.2d 171, 180 n. 11 (N.D.1985). Circumstances may make a checkpoint unreasonable unless the state shows that it is closely related to accomplishing its intended goal. State v. Tykwinski, 170 Ariz. 365, 824 P.2d 761 (1991); Pimental v. Department of Transp., 561 A.2d 1348 (R.I.1989). In balancing the interests at stake, we would weigh the invasion of liberty against the necessity for the invasion and the invasion’s effectiveness in achieving the state’s goal. See, e.g., Ingersoll v. Palmer, supra. The question is whether a particular roadblock is either necessary or effective enough to warrant the intrusion it causes on the individual. See State v. Henderson, 114 Idaho 293, 756 P.2d 1057 (1988); State v. Koppel, 127 N.H. 286, 499 A.2d 977 (1985); Lowe v. Commonwealth, 230 Va. 346, 337 S.E.2d 273 (1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1084, 106 S.Ct. 1464, 89 L.Ed.2d 720 (1986).
In this case, the defendant relied exclusively on his statutory argument to attack his seizure and arrest. I agree with the majority’s resolution of the statutory argument. I also agree that the defendant did not raise the state constitutional argument and did not develop the argument that this sobriety checkpoint did not advance the public interest under thé North Dakota constitution, see Ascher, supra, or that the serious invasion of privacy and liberty rights by suspicionless seizures outweighs the public interest at stake. Our resolution of such issues must therefore await another day.
Therefore, I concur in the result.