Texas' mandatory blood draw statute on DWI under fire

Texas' warrantless blood draw statute has been challenged and in some cases declared unconstitutional by intermediate state appellate judges in the wake of the Supreme Court's 2013 McNeely decision.  Tyler's 12th Court of Appeals became the latest to contend "the implied consent and mandatory blood draw statutory schemes found in the transportation code are not exceptions to the warrant requirement under the Fourth Amendment."

Another pro-Fourth Amendment opinion from a Texas appellate court on the topic came in July from the Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, ruling that "warrantless searches are presumed unreasonable and must be justified on a case by case basis."

The SA Express News editorialized recently that the Court of Criminal Appeals should pick up a case to clarify the issue, and at some point they surely will. But if they go against the lower courts and uphold the current statute, we might see the issue challenged again at SCOTUS.