Earl Warren

“ I agree with the Court that the Fourteenth Amendment made applicable to the States the Fifth Amendment's provision that 'No person * * * shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself * * *.' But I disagree with the Court's holding that California did not violate petitioner's constitutional right against self-incrimination when it compelled him, against his will, to allow a doctor to puncture his blood vessels in order to extract a sample of blood and analyze it for alcoholic content, and then used that analysis as evidence to convict petitioner of a crime. ”

“ Certainly there could be few papers that would have any more 'testimonial' value to convict a man of drunken driving than would an analysis of the alcoholic content of a human being's blood introduced in evidence at a trial for driving while under the influence of alcohol. In such a situation blood, of course, is not oral testimony given by an accused but it can certainly 'communicate' to a court and jury the fact of guilt. ”