Previously I reported on the apparent lack of legal disputes in Nebraska, which had freed up that state’s supreme court to find time to vacate the death sentence of a dog. Today we learn that things are also slow in Indiana.
The Indiana Supreme Court yesterday ruled unanimously that a tongue stud is not a “foreign substance” that can invalidate a breath test. State law provides that no foreign substance can be placed in a person’s mouth during the 20 minutes prior to any such test because some substances can skew the results. Brenna Guy of Indianapolis had argued that her tongue stud was such a substance, and her case somehow reached the state’s highest court. It ruled 4-0 against her on the grounds that the stud had been there for more than 20 minutes, and so (presumably) the baseline for her test would not have been affected because it was not a new substance.
Next week, perhaps the Wyoming Supreme Court will deal with whether a six-pack counts as one or multiple items for purposes of an supermarket express-checkout lane.