High Court Limits Right to See Attorney : Denies Drunk Driving Suspect Consultation Before Breath Test

The Supreme Court, over two dissenting votes, today refused to give motorists suspected of drunk driving the right to talk to a lawyer before deciding whether to take a breath test.

The court, citing the lack of “a substantial federal question,” rejected an appeal by a Minnesota woman whose driver’s license was suspended for one year after she insisted on consulting with her lawyer before submitting to the test.

Justices Byron R. White and John Paul Stevens voted to hear the appeal, but four votes are needed to grant such review.

Janice Nyflot was arrested Sept. 23, 1984, near Albert Lea, Minn., and refused to take the test for alcohol content in her bloodstream until she had spoken to her lawyer.

After talking with her lawyer, she agreed to take the test. But she was told by the police that she had already refused the test and that it was too late to change her mind.

Her license was revoked for a year by a state judge. The punishment was upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court last June.

1984 Law Cited

The state’s highest court said a 1984 law aimed at curbing drunk driving in Minnesota denies motorists “even a limited statutory right to consult with counsel before deciding whether to submit to chemical testing.”

The state court said the law does not violate the Constitution.

In another case today, the justices cleared away one obstacle to the government’s plans to force accused Nazi war criminal John Demjanjuk--the alleged “Ivan the Terrible,” a Nazi guard at Treblinka death camp said to have sent 900,000 Jews to their deaths--to leave the country.

The court, without comment, rejected appeals by the 65-year-old retired auto worker from the Cleveland area to avoid deportation to the Soviet Union.

Justice Department officials said their intention is to extradite Demjanjuk to Israel. They said Israel’s extradition claim takes precedence over deportation to the Soviet Union.

Demjanjuk is a native of the Ukraine.

Justice Department officials said Demjanjuk has until Dec. 21 to file an additional Supreme Court appeal to block extradition to Israel.