Carolina Criminal Defense & DUI Lawyer UpdatesDUI checkpoints remain constitutionally permissible under both the Fourth Amendment and Article I, Section 20 of the North Carolina Constitution, provided they satisfy the balancing test articulated in federal and state precedent and comply with the procedural safeguards in N.C.G.S. § 20-16.3A.
That principle is settled law and has been for quite some time.
What is not settled, and what may determine suppression outcomes in individual cases, is whether a specific license checkpoint or “DWI checking station” satisfies those requirements in practice. Recent Court of Appeals authority confirms that checkpoint suppression litigation turns on evidentiary record development and trial court fact-finding, not on abstract constitutional arguments.