The DUI Stop
N.D.C.C. § 39-20-01 — driving is consent to a chemical test after an arrest, and refusing can revoke the license
Anyone who drives on a highway or a public area open to vehicles is deemed to have consented to a chemical test of blood, breath, oral fluid or urine. The test is given at an officer's direction only after an arrest for impaired driving, and the officer first says that refusing may revoke driving privileges for a minimum of 180 days and up to three years.
- An officer who saw a moving violation or a crash and believes the driver's body contains alcohol may ask for an onsite screening breath test, whose result is used only to decide on a further test.
- A driver who refuses a test is not given one; the officer takes the license and issues a temporary permit for the next twenty-five days.
- Revocation for refusal is 180 days with no prior in seven years, two years with one, and three years with two or more.
Ten days to ask for a hearing. A driver gets a hearing before the license is suspended or revoked by mailing or otherwise sending a request to the director within ten days after the temporary permit is issued. The hearing is held within thirty days after the permit was issued.
Testing is also limited by the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that a breath test may be taken without a warrant as part of a lawful arrest for drunk driving and a blood test may not; that a driver may not be criminally punished for refusing a blood test where no warrant was obtained; and that the natural fall of alcohol in the blood does not by itself create an emergency excusing a warrant in every case, which is decided case by case on all the circumstances. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.
Sources for this section (6)
- N.D.C.C. § 39-20-01 — Implied consent to determine alcohol concentration and presence of drugs
- N.D.C.C. § 39-20-14 — Screening tests
- N.D.C.C. § 39-20-04 — Revocation of privilege to drive motor vehicle upon refusal to submit to testing
- N.D.C.C. § 39-20-05 — Administrative hearing on request - Election to participate in the twenty-four seven sobriety program
- Birchfield v. North Dakota, 579 U.S. 438 (2016) — A breath test may be taken incident to arrest, a blood draw needs a warrant
- Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141 (2013) — The natural fall of blood alcohol is not by itself an emergency justifying a warrantless draw
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed North Dakota attorney.