Chalking Tires as a Fourth Amendment Search

By Robert Phillips, Deputy District Attorney (Ret).

A couple of years ago, the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeal held that a city’s practice of chalking a person’s tires—done for the purpose of determining how long the vehicle is parked at a specific location—constitutes a “search,” and is a Fourth Amendment violation absent a search warrant.  Neither the automobile nor the community caretaking exceptions to the search warrant requirement applies.  (Taylor v. City of Saginaw (6th Cir. 2021) 11 F.4th 483.)  The Sixth Circuit also specifically held that the “administrative-search exception” to the search warrant requirement does not justify the city’s suspicionless chalking of car tires to enforce its parking regulations.  This, to me, is really one of the dumbest decisions ever to come out of a federal appeals court.  It must also be noted, however, that the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal also held that “tapping” a stopped motorist’s tires out of concern that—having viewed them wobbling—they were a hazard to the motorist and others, is also a search, albeit a reasonable one under the circumstances. (See United States v. Richmond (5th Cir. Tex. 2019) 915 F.3rd 352.)  Well, finally, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal came to the rescue, . . . at least partially.

In a split, 2-to-1 decision, the Ninth Circuit reached the opposite conclusion.  The Ninth Circuit first notes that the practice of chalking the tires of parked cars has gone on unchallenged for nearly 100 years (since the 1930’s) as a valid and relatively simple parking enforcement tool.  During this time, the Court further notes that “it is not apparent that anyone viewed tire chalking as presenting a grave question of constitutional law, or indeed any question of constitutional dimension.”  Then, however, while recognizing that “(t)he initial question is whether tire chalking is even a © 2026 Legal Updates, LLC.
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