Gutierrez

The issue in this case is one that arises every day in California. A law enforcement officer arresting someone for driving under the influence (DUI) informs the suspect that he or she must submit to a breath test or blood test to measure blood alcohol content (BAC). If the suspect, *731 faced with this choice between tests, elects a blood test, must the arresting officer then get a warrant before having the suspect's blood drawn? We conclude no warrant is necessary in these circumstances, under the well-recognized and categorical exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement for a search incident to arrest.

The United States Supreme Court recently applied the search-incident-to-arrest doctrine to BAC testing in Birchfield v. North Dakota (2016) 579 U.S. ----, [ 136 S.Ct. 2160 ], 195 L.Ed.2d 560 ( Birchfield ). Birchfield held that a motorist arrested on DUI charges may be compelled to blow into a machine to measure the driver's BAC; the arresting officer needs no warrant because a breath test is a valid search incident to a DUI arrest. ( Id. at p. 2176.) But if instead the officer directs that the suspect's blood be drawn for the same purpose, the officer does need a…