CROTHERS, Justice.
[¶ 1] Ronald Dale McCoy appeals from a district court judgment affirming a Department of Transportation decision suspending his driving privileges for 180 days. We affirm because McCoy consented to take the chemical breath test given by the law enforcement officer and McCoy's constitutional rights were not violated as a matter of law by North Dakota's implied consent law.
[¶ 2] In March 2013, a Stark County sheriff's deputy stopped a vehicle that appeared to not have a light illuminating the license plate. The vehicle was driven by McCoy. While speaking with McCoy, the deputy noticed an odor of alcohol and McCoy's eyes appeared bloodshot and watery. McCoy admitted he had been drinking
[¶ 3] The deputy transported McCoy to the law enforcement center and again read McCoy the implied consent advisory. McCoy agreed to take the chemical breath test. The deputy administered the Intoxilyzer 8000, which revealed an alcohol concentration of .203. The deputy issued McCoy a report and notice of the Department's intent to suspend his driving privileges. McCoy requested an administrative hearing.
[¶ 4] In April 2013, a hearing was held before a Department hearing officer, who subsequently issued findings of fact, conclusions of law and a decision suspending McCoy's driving privileges for 180 days. The hearing officer found McCoy agreed to take a chemical breath test:
Addressing McCoy's argument that North Dakota's implied consent law violates his constitutional rights, the hearing officer concluded:
[¶ 5] McCoy appealed to the district court, which affirmed the hearing officer's decision.
[¶ 6] This Court reviews the Department's decision to suspend a person's driving privileges under the Administrative
[¶ 7] We must affirm the agency's decision unless:
N.D.C.C. § 28-32-46. Although we review the agency's findings and conclusions, "the district court's analysis is entitled to respect if it is sound." Daniels v. Ziegler, 2013 ND 157, ¶ 5, 835 N.W.2d 852 (citation omitted).
[¶ 8] "When reviewing an administrative agency's decision, we determine `only whether a reasoning mind reasonably could have concluded the findings were supported by the weight of the evidence from the entire record.'" Yellowbird v. N.D. Dep't of Transp., 2013 ND 131, ¶ 8, 833 N.W.2d 536 (citation omitted). This Court does not make independent findings or substitute its judgment. Id. Once the facts are established, their significance presents a question of law, which we review de novo. Bell v. N.D. Dep't of Transp., 2012 ND 102, ¶ 20, 816 N.W.2d 786. Our "standard of review for a claimed violation of a constitutional right is de novo." Martin v. N.D. Dep't of Transp., 2009 ND 181, ¶ 5, 773 N.W.2d 190 (citation omitted).
[¶ 9] McCoy's sole issue is that the Department hearing officer erred in its conclusions of law because the breath test taken by law enforcement constituted a warrantless search and the Department failed to establish an exception to the warrant requirement. McCoy therefore contends the hearing officer's decision violated his constitutional rights under U.S. Const. amend. IV and N.D. Const. art. I, § 8.
[¶ 10] Unreasonable searches and seizures are prohibited under U.S. Const. amend. IV and N.D. Const. art. I, § 8. See Hoover v. Director, N.D. Dep't of Transp., 2008 ND 87, ¶ 15, 748 N.W.2d 730; City of Fargo v. Wonder, 2002 ND 142, ¶ 18, 651 N.W.2d 665. "[I]t is well-settled that administration of a breath test to determine alcohol consumption is a search." Wonder, at ¶ 19; see also Skinner
[¶ 11] At the time of McCoy's stop, North Dakota's implied consent law provided:
N.D.C.C. § 39-20-01 (2011) (emphasis added). Section 39-20-04(1) (2011), N.D.C.C., provided that "[i]f a person refuses to submit to testing under section 39-20-01 ..., none may be given," but the person's license may be administratively revoked for up to four years.
[¶ 12] A person may not be tested against his will and retains the opportunity and choice to refuse a chemical test under N.D.C.C. § 39-20-04. See Grosgebauer v. N.D. Dep't of Transp., 2008 ND 75, ¶¶ 8, 11, 747 N.W.2d 510. This "statutory right to refuse testing exists to avoid violent confrontations between drivers and police officers." Id. at ¶ 8. However, the statute ensures a driver may not refuse testing "to avoid the potential consequences of test submission and to avoid the penalties of refusal by remaining ambivalent." Id. at ¶ 11.
[¶ 13] We also explained that N.D.C.C. § 39-20-01 does not apply when a person voluntarily consents to chemical testing. See City of Bismarck v. Hoffner, 379 N.W.2d 797, 798-99 (N.D.1985) ("It appears axiomatic to this court that implied consent is unnecessary where actual consent is given. Nor is this court convinced... that the procedural requirements contained in the implied-consent statute should also apply to situations where actual consent is given or sought."); State v. Abrahamson, 328 N.W.2d 213, 215 (N.D. 1982) (implied consent statute inapplicable when an individual voluntarily consents to giving blood sample and makes admissible consensual blood test results); see also Fossum v. N.D. Dep't of Transp., 2014 ND
[¶ 14] After a driver agrees to testing, the question becomes whether the driver "voluntarily" consented to chemical testing. See Fossum, at ¶ 13.
Fossum, at ¶ 13 (quoting State v. Anderson, 336 N.W.2d 634, 639 (N.D. 1983)). A person does not consent by merely acquiescing to a claim of legal authority. See Bumper v. North Carolina, 391 U.S. 543, 548-49, 88 S.Ct. 1788, 20 L.Ed.2d 797 (1968); see also State v. Lange, 255 N.W.2d 59, 64 (N.D.1977) (no suggestion that officer used "subtle methods of coercion or deception" to obtain the consent or that "the arresting officer asserted that he possessed a warrant when in fact he did not, which would serve to vitiate the consent").
[¶ 15] Here, McCoy agreed to take the chemical breath test after the deputy read him the implied consent advisory and, at that time, refusal to take the chemical test was not a crime. Cf. N.D.C.C. § 39-20-01(3) (2013). McCoy's argument is he was "coerced" into giving consent when the deputy read the implied consent advisory and that he was allowed the privilege to drive only in return for the surrender of his rights under U.S. Const. amend. IV and N.D. Const. art. I, § 8. McCoy contends he was not presented a "free and unconstrained choice" because he was threatened with loss of his driving privileges if he refused to consent to a warrantless search.
[¶ 16] McCoy relied on Missouri v. McNeely, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013), before the Department hearing officer and in the district court. McCoy did not cite McNeely in his main appellate brief and only responds to the Department's argument about McNeely in his reply brief. Nonetheless, we believe McNeely does not support McCoy's argument. In McNeely, the Supreme Court held only that the natural dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream does not present "per se" exigent circumstances justifying an exception to the Fourth Amendment search warrant requirement for nonconsensual blood testing in all drunk-driving cases. Id. at 1567-68. The Court instead held that exigency in this context must be determined case by case based on the "totality of the circumstances." Id. at 1556. Unlike McNeely, the warrant requirement exception at issue here involves consent rather than exigent circumstances.
[¶ 17] Relying on Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 222, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973), and Bumper, 391 U.S. at 548-49, 88 S.Ct. 1788, McCoy asserts the Department must prove his performance of the test was not the product of submitting to the officer's legal authority and the court must examine the "totality of the circumstances" that led McCoy to take the test. McCoy argues that, under these circumstances, the Department could not prove McCoy "freely and voluntarily consented" to the warrantless search because
[¶ 18] For example, in State v. Moore, 354 Or. 493, 318 P.3d 1133, 1139-40 (2013), adh'd to as modified, 354 Or. 835, 322 P.3d 486 (2014), the Oregon Supreme Court held an implied consent advisory warning a defendant that evidence of refusal or failure to submit to blood alcohol testing may be offered against defendant did not constitute coercion to render the defendant's consent involuntary. The Oregon court explained that simply reciting the Oregon implied consent advisory was not coercive:
Id. at 1138.
[¶ 19] In State v. Brooks, 838 N.W.2d 563, 569 (Minn.2013), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 133 S.Ct. 1996, ___ L.Ed.2d ___ (2014), the Minnesota Supreme Court held the implied-consent advisory by itself does not coerce consent and the issue of consent must be evaluated based on the "totality of the circumstances." The court in Brooks held that "a driver's decision to agree to take a test is not coerced simply because Minnesota has attached the penalty of making it a crime to refuse the test." Id. at 570. In reaching this conclusion, the court considered coercion within the context of implied consent statutes:
Brooks, at 570. The court in Brooks reasoned that, although Neville and McDonnell
[¶ 20] The court in Brooks distinguished the Supreme Court's decision in Bumper, 391 U.S. at 548-49, 88 S.Ct. 1788, holding Bumper did not support Brooks's argument that the State unlawfully coerced his consent. The Brooks court explained:
Brooks, 838 N.W.2d at 571 (footnotes omitted).
[¶ 21] Unlike Minnesota's implied consent law, the applicable North Dakota implied consent law did not impose criminal penalties for refusal of a chemical test. Nonetheless, our law presented McCoy with a difficult choice to which specified consequences attached. As this Court explained, "[R]efusing to submit to the test is a legislatively granted privilege," and the legislature "limited the privilege by attaching consequences to the act of exercising that privilege. See § 39-20-08 (`proof of refusal is admissible in any civil or criminal action'); § 39-20-04 (revocation of privilege to drive upon refusal to submit to testing)." State v. Murphy, 516 N.W.2d 285, 287 (N.D.1994) (citing Neville, 459 U.S. at 565, 103 S.Ct. 916). We agree with the rationale and conclusions in Brooks and Moore that a driver's decision to agree to take a test is not coerced simply because an administrative penalty has been attached to refusing the test. We reject McCoy's argument that his consent was coerced and not free and voluntary merely by the deputy's reading of the implied consent advisory, accurately informing McCoy that refusal would subject him to losing his driving privileges and presenting him with a choice.
[¶ 22] North Dakota's implied consent law, both at the time of McCoy's arrest and currently, states that "[a]ny individual who operates a motor vehicle on a highway
[¶ 23] Under our statutory scheme, implied consent occurs at the time an individual operates a motor vehicle. If an individual is subsequently stopped and read the implied consent advisory, the driver has the choice at that point whether to withdraw or ratify the consent. In this case, however, the deputy also asked for and received actual consent from McCoy after reading the implied consent advisory. Thus, the proper analysis is whether the Department met its burden of establishing McCoy voluntarily consented to the chemical test based on the totality of the circumstances surrounding McCoy's actual consent. See Fossum, 2014 ND 47, ¶ 13, 843 N.W.2d 282; Hoover, 2008 ND 87, ¶ 15, 748 N.W.2d 730.
[¶ 24] As discussed, an individual's consent is not coerced simply because an administrative penalty has been attached to refusing the test or that law enforcement recites that law to the driver. Here, examining the totality of the circumstances at the time McCoy agreed to take the chemical breath test, nothing exists in the record to support a claim that McCoy's actual consent was involuntary, in that no evidence shows McCoy's consent was the product of coercion by the officer. The record does establish that the officer read McCoy the implied consent advisory and asked McCoy to take a chemical test and that McCoy, when presented with the choice of either ratifying or withdrawing his implied consent, agreed to take the test. Further, despite testifying at the hearing, McCoy presented no evidence to rebut the officer's testimony that he merely read the implied consent advisory to McCoy and asked him to take the test. We therefore conclude the Department established under the totality of the circumstances that McCoy freely and voluntarily consented to the breath test.
[¶ 25] McCoy argues North Dakota's implied consent law conditions the privilege of driving on a driver's surrender of the right to be free from unreasonable searches, presenting an "unconstitutional condition" under Frost & Frost Trucking Co. v. Railroad Comm'n, 271 U.S. 583, 46 S.Ct. 605, 70 L.Ed. 1101 (1926).
[¶ 26] This Court has held driving is not a constitutional right but a privilege subject to reasonable control of the State under its police power. See State v. Stuart, 544 N.W.2d 158, 163 (N.D.1996); N.D. Dep't of Transp. v. DuPaul, 487 N.W.2d 593, 598 (N.D.1992); State v. Mische, 448 N.W.2d 412, 413 (N.D.1989); State v. Larson, 419 N.W.2d 897, 898 (N.D. 1988); State v. Kouba, 319 N.W.2d 161, 163 (N.D.1982). In response "to the carnage on our nation's highways," the States and the Congress have continued to increase
[¶ 27] Although McCoy cites Frost without significant analysis or discussion, he nonetheless frames his issue only as a challenge to the voluntariness of his consent to the officer's search. This Court has repeatedly refused to consider challenges to the constitutionality of a statute that were not well established before this Court and the district court:
Riemers v. O'Halloran, 2004 ND 79, ¶ 6, 678 N.W.2d 547 (citations and internal quotation marks omitted). We further explained the rationale for requiring a party asserting a statute's unconstitutionality to provide more than mere bare assertions:
Haney v. N.D. Workers Comp. Bur., 518 N.W.2d 195, 197 (N.D.1994) (citations and internal quotation marks omitted).
[¶ 28] Because the constitutionality of implied consent laws as an unconstitutional condition has not been briefed or argued by either party in any meaningful way, we do not address this issue.
[¶ 29] We conclude under the totality of circumstances that McCoy freely and voluntarily consented to the chemical breath test. We further conclude the hearing officer did not err in its conclusions of law because the Department established an exception to the warrant requirement. We considered the remaining issues and arguments and find them to be either unnecessary to our decision or without merit. The judgment is affirmed.
[¶ 30] GERALD W. VANDE WALLE, C.J., LISA FAIR McEVERS, CAROL RONNING KAPSNER, and DALE V. SANDSTROM, JJ., concur.