Hernandez v. Department of Motor Vehicles

Opinion

TOBRINER, J.

Since 1966, section 13353 of the Vehicle Code— California’s “implied consent” law1—has provided for a six-month suspension of an individual’s driver’s license when the individual, after having been lawfully arrested for drunk driving and fully informed of his rights, refuses to submit to any one of three statutorily prescribed chemical tests which are designed to provide scientifically measurable evidence as to the degree of the driver’s intoxication at the time of his arrest. Past cases have upheld the constitutionality of section 13353 against claims that the statute (1)…