State v. Hartog, 88-383

• Decision Date: 17 May 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-383,88-383
• Citation: 440 N.W.2d 852
• Parties: STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. John HARTOG, Appellant.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 852

440 N.W.2d 852

STATE of Iowa, Appellee, v. John HARTOG, Appellant.

No. 88-383.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 17, 1989.

Rehearing Denied June 6, 1989.

Christopher J. Tinley of Pogge, Root & Fleming, Council Bluffs, for appellant.

Thomas J. Miller, Atty. Gen., Charles J. Krogmeier, Sp. Asst. Atty. Gen., Mark Hunacek, Asst. Atty. Gen., and E.A. Westfall, County Atty., for appellee.

Considered by McGIVERIN, C.J., and SCHULTZ, CARTER, LAVORATO and NEUMAN, JJ.

LAVORATO, Justice.

At issue here is whether Iowa's mandatory seat belt law is unconstitutional. The trial court held that it was not. We agree and affirm.

I. Background Facts and Proceedings.

During the early morning hours of November 1, 1987, the defendant, John Hartog, was stopped at a roadblock in Carter Lake, Iowa. The roadblock was jointly conducted by the Iowa State Patrol and local and county law enforcement agencies. An officer checked Hartog's car for safety violations and found none. The officer did, however, issue Hartog a citation for failing to use his seat belt as required by Iowa Code section 321.445(2) (1987). The following month, Hartog was issued another seat belt citation.

Hartog was found guilty on both charges in separate trials before a magistrate. Hartog did not dispute the fact that he had not been wearing his seat belt on either occasion. Instead, at the close of the State's case in each trial, he moved to have the citation dismissed and the mandatory seat belt law declared unconstitutional as (1) violating his rights to privacy and equal protection and (2) exceeding the scope of the state's police power under both the federal and Iowa constitutions. The motion was overruled at each trial.

On appeal, the district court affirmed both convictions. Hartog filed separate applications for discretionary review with this court as well as a motion to consolidate the appeals. We granted both applications and the motion.

On appeal here, Hartog has narrowed his state and federal constitutional challenges to two. First, he asserts that section 321.445(2), the seat belt law, violates his right of privacy as guaranteed by the due process clauses of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 9 of the Iowa Constitution. Second, he contends the seat belt law exceeds the state's police power under the due process clauses of both constitutions.

II. The Seat Belt Law.

Iowa's mandatory seat belt law provides in part:

The driver and front seat occupants of a type of motor vehicle which is subject to registration in Iowa, except a motorcycle or a motorized bicycle, shall each wear a properly adjusted and fastened safety belt or safety harness any time the vehicle is in forward motion on a street or highway in this state except that a child under six years of age shall be secured as required under section 321.446.

Iowa Code § 321.445(2). Section 321.445(2) exempts the following persons from complying with the seat belt provision: (a) the driver or front seat occupants of a motor vehicle not required to be equipped with safety belts under rules adopted by the state department of transportation; (b) the driver or front seat occupants of a motor vehicle who are actively engaged in work that requires frequent exits from and reentries into the vehicle, provided that the vehicle does not exceed twenty-five miles per hour between stops; (c) rural postal drivers at certain points in their deliveries; (d) passengers on a bus; (e) a person possessing a written certification from a physician that the person is unable to wear a seat belt because of physical or medical reasons; and (f) front seat occupants, except the driver, of an authorized emergency vehicle while such occupants are being transported in an emergency. See Iowa Code § 321.445(2)(a)-(f). Although not specifically exempted, back seat passengers are not required by section 321.445(2) to wear seat belts.

The driver and front seat passengers may be charged separately for failing to wear a seat belt. See Iowa Code § 321.445(3). Evidence of such failure, however, is not admissible or material as evidence in a civil action for damages arising before July 1, 1986. Thereafter, such evidence is admissible to mitigate damages. See Iowa Code § 321.445(4)(a), (b).

A violation of section 321.445(2) is subject to a ten-dollar fine but does not subject the violator to the habitual offender provisions of Iowa Code section 321.555. See Iowa Code §§ 321.482, 321.555(2), 805.8(2)(c).

Before proceeding to the constitutional issues raised, we wish to emphasize that our task is not to question the wisdom or necessity of this legislation. Rather, our task is to determine whether the legislation passes constitutional muster. See 2 R.D. Rotunda, J.E. Nowak & J.N. Young, Constitutional Law: Substance and Procedure § 14.6, at 14 (1986) (hereinafter cited as Rotunda).

III. The Right to Privacy.

Hartog first contends that Iowa Code section 321.445(2) violates his right to privacy as guaranteed by the due process clauses of the fourteenth amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 9 of the Iowa Constitution. In support of his contention, Hartog essentially argues that the statute deprives him of a fundamental right to make a choice pertaining solely to his person and his personal safety. He likens this supposed fundamental right to the fundamental right of a woman to terminate her pregnancy, as recognized in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 154, 93 S.Ct. 705, 727, 35 L.Ed.2d 147, 177-78 (1973).

The due process clause of the fourteenth amendment provides that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process." A similar provision is found in article I, section 9 of the Iowa Constitution: "[N]o person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process." The due process clauses of the fourteenth amendment and of article I, section 9 of the Iowa Constitution are limited to state action. Burton v. Wilmington Parking Auth., 365 U.S. 715, 722, 81 S.Ct. 856, 860, 6 L.Ed.2d 45, 50 (1961); Jensen v. Schreck, 275 N.W.2d 374, 384 (Iowa 1979). Because of the textual similarity between the two clauses, we often look to federal cases when interpreting the state due process clause. Gooch v. Iowa Dep't of Transp., 398 N.W.2d 845, 848 (Iowa 1987).

Judicial review under the federal due process clause of the fourteenth amendment takes two forms: procedural and substantive. Procedural due process review concerns itself only with the fairness of the process by which a governmental entity applies a law to an individual. Substantive due process review, on the other hand, concerns itself only with whether the law is constitutional. 2 Rotunda, § 14.6, at 12-13. Here we are concerned with the latter.

In determining whether a law is constitutional, we generally apply a standard of review that requires the law to be rationally related to a legitimate goal of government. See San Antonio Indep. School Dist. v. Rodriguez, 411 U.S. 1, 17, 93 S.Ct. 1278, 1288, 36 L.Ed.2d 16, 33 (1973).

Our standard of review is more stringent, however, if the law limits a "fundamental" right or liberty under the Constitution. In these circumstances, we are more careful in scrutinizing the underlying factual basis for the law. Our review is thus elevated to the level of "strict scrutiny." See id.

Under the strict scrutiny standard of review, any law that limits a fundamental right must promote a compelling or overriding interest of government. Otherwise, the law is unconstitutional. Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. at 155, 93 S.Ct. at 728, 35 L.Ed.2d at 178.

Clearly, life, liberty, and property are fundamental rights because they have textual recognition in the due process clause. See Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186, 191, 106 S.Ct. 2841, 2844, 92 L.Ed.2d 140, 146 (1986). The Supreme Court has also recognized fundamental rights implicit or subsumed in the terms "life," "liberty," and "property." See id. The right to privacy is one such implied fundamental right. Bowers, 478 U.S. at 191, 106 S.Ct. at 2844, 92 L.Ed.2d at 146; Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. at 152, 93 S.Ct. at 726, 35 L.Ed.2d at 176 ("only personal rights that can be deemed 'fundamental' or 'implicit in the concept of ordered liberty' are included in this guarantee of personal privacy"). It is subsumed or implicit in the term "liberty." See 2 Rotunda, § 17.4, at 222.

The right to privacy in this context simply means the freedom of choice to engage in certain activities. See 2 Rotunda § 17.4, at 222. The Supreme Court has, however, defined those activities to include only child rearing and education, family relationships, procreation, marriage, contraception and abortion. Bowers, 478 U.S. at 190, 106 S.Ct. at 2843, 92 L.Ed.2d at 145-46.

Moreover, the Court has expressed a resistance to the idea of expanding the right of privacy beyond these activities. Id. at 195, 106 S.Ct. at 2846, 92 L.Ed.2d at 148. And, as recently as Bowers, the Court has specifically refused to do so. Id. (right to privacy does not include right to engage in homosexual activity); see also Kelley v. Johnson, 425 U.S. 238, 244, 96 S.Ct. 1440, 1444, 47 L.Ed.2d 708, 714 (1976) (right to privacy does not afford police officer right to choose hairstyle); Paul v. Davis, 424 U.S. 693, 713, 96 S.Ct. 1155, 1166, 47 L.Ed.2d 405, 420 (1976) (right to privacy does not include protection of reputation); Paris Adult Theatre I v. Slaton, 413 U.S. 49, 66, 93 S.Ct. 2628, 2640, 37 L.Ed.2d 446, 462 (1973) (right to privacy does not include right of adults to view obscene movies in places of public accommodation). So, while rights of privacy have been found in the shadows of specific constitutional provisions, there will be considerable reluctance to recognize new rights of privacy that stray from those categories already established.

We fail to see how Hartog's claimed right to decide whether to buckle up resembles those liberty interests ...