A Bay City ordinance that requires people younger than 21 to take a breathalyzer test or face a $100 fine is illegal, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.
Officials from the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan say the ruling impacts young people - especially on college campuses - because state law is identical to the illegal ordinance.
The ruling makes the state law unconstitutional, ACLU officials say. Michigan already is the only state that makes it illegal for a person to refuse a Breathalyzer test when police don't have a search warrant.
In an opinion issued Tuesday, U.S. District Judge David Lawson struck down the ordinance. He said the ordinance is a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures and requires a search warrant be issued if there is probable cause.
The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan ruled that a Breathalyzer test is a search and no exceptions apply in the case of a constitutional ban on unlawful search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The ruling does not apply to drivers operating vehicles.
"The right to be left alone in public places ranks high on the hierarchy of entitlements that citizens in a free society have come to expect - at least in the context of citizen-police encounters," Lawson wrote in the court opinion.
The ruling will affect MSU students who the opinion says have had their civil rights violated when forced to take the test while walking on campus, said Henry Silverman, president of the Lansing-area ACLU.
"MSU students are caught between a rock and a hard place," Silverman said. "Students are forced to take the test. They're damned if you do, damned if you don't."
The case stems from an incident involving Bay City resident Jamie Spencer and her friends, who were standing near a car at a city park in August 2001 after in-line skating. Two officers approached the group and eventually administered a Breathalyzer test to everyone in the group. Police said they could smell alcohol among the group.
Spencer, 19 at the time, told police she wasn't drinking and didn't want to take the test. When police told her she could face a $100 fine, she took the test and passed, which indicated that she had not been drinking.
"Even though I had done nothing wrong, the police invaded my privacy," Spencer said in a statement. "I am glad that because of this decision, the police will not harass innocent young people in the future by forcing them into such a demeaning situation."
One underage member of the group did test positive for alcohol during the Breathalyzer, the court case revealed.
Bay City attorneys did not return calls late Tuesday afternoon.
MSU police Inspector Mary Johnson said MSU police use the state law and will continue current practices until instructed by Ingham County officials.
East Lansing police Capt. Juli Liebler said the city has a municipal ordinance that includes a civil infraction and a fine of up to $100 for refusal to take the test.
Liebler said police approach people who are damaging property or fighting and use factors such as bloodshot eyes, bad balance or the smell of alcohol as reasons to suspect alcohol use.
"We don't have contact with somebody unless they're drawing attention to themselves," she said. "If someone is just walking around, it's not going to impact them."
But the ruling makes those practices illegal, said Michael Steinberg, legal director for the ACLU of Michigan.
It's a tough situation for students to support, because drinking under the age of 21 is illegal, said Kevin Glandon, vice chairperson for external affairs for ASMSU, MSU's undergraduate student government.
Glandon said student-government officials are looking into the ruling and the possibility of overturning local laws, but he said they are unsure whether student tax dollars will be used to wage lawsuits.
Brian Charlton can be reached at charlt10@msu.edu.
