CONSTITUTIONAL LAW-VALIDITY OF NEW YORK STATUTE SETTING OUT MOTORISTS\u27 IMPLIED CONSENT TO CHEMICAL TESTS FOR INTOXICATION

The State of New York has approved a statute, to go into effect July 1, 1953, which stipulates that any person who operates a motor vehicle or motorcycle in the state shall be deemed to have given his consent to chemical tests of his breath, blood, urine, or saliva for the purpose of determining the alcoholic content of his blood. If such a person refuses to allow the tests, they will not be made, but the commissioner shall revoke his license or permit to drive, including the nonresident operating privilege. This is the first statute of its type and merits attention as a possible solution to the constitutional problems surrounding the extraction of evidence from persons by compulsion, particularly evidence in the form of bodily substances. It is evident that the statute came into being and was drafted with these problems in mind. These constitutional problems have become extremely acute since the United States Supreme Court entered the field in Rochin v. California. This case leaves little doubt that the methods which the states use to obtain evidence will be subject to closer scrutiny in the future than they have been in the past