Back in December, I blogged a series of posts about a 6th Circuit opinion, United States v. Davis, in which a panel sua sponte raised the question of a traffic statute’s constitutionality, struck down the statute as unconstitutionally vague, and then ruled that the unconstitutionality of the statute was not relevant to the outcome of the case. The Sixth Circuit later withdrew the opinion, and the State of Michigan filed a brief defending the statute.
Readers who followed those earlier posts might be interested to know that the Sixth Circuit handed down a new opinion in the case last week. It’s a 3-page unpublished decision that only addresses the probable cause issue. The opinion adds a footnote:
We thank the State of Michigan for submitting its views on whether this law is void for vagueness. Because Davis did not raise this question, we decline to reach it here.