Law officers have reason enough to stop a vehicle if its annual license registration tab is stuck in the wrong place, the North Dakota Supreme Court says.

The court's unanimous ruling Monday affirmed the driver's license revocation of Lindsay Bartch, who was pulled over in northeastern Bismarck last December by a Burleigh County sheriff's deputy who had followed him for more than five miles.

A test of Bartch's breath measured his blood-alcohol content at 0.14 percent, well above the state limit of 0.08 percent. He declined to allow a blood test. The Department of Transportation subsequently revoked Bartch's driving privileges for three years.

The deputy, Kirk Hagel, did not see Bartch commit any traffic violations but did notice that his current registration sticker was in the top left-hand corner of his rear license plate, court records say.

State law gives North Dakota's Department of Transportation the power to designate space on the plate to put the registration sticker, and the agency says it should be on the plate's upper right-hand corner.

Instead of his current sticker, Bartch had an expired sticker on the upper right-hand corner of his plate, court records say.

North Dakota law requires motorists to remove "all number plates, markers, or evidence of registration or licensing except for the current year," and to display registration tabs in "the area designated by the department for the tab or sticker." Violations carry a $20 fine.

Bartch's lawyer, Tim Purdon, argued the law was unconstitutional, because it gave the Department of Transportation authority to create a crime. Putting a registration tab in the wrong place should not be the basis for a traffic stop, Purdon argued.

The Supreme Court's ruling, written by Justice Daniel Crothers, rejected Purdon's arguments.

"Law enforcement officers may legally stop a moving vehicle for investigation if the officers have reasonable and articulable suspicion the driver has violated or is violating the law," Crothers wrote. "Even a minor traffic violation can provide the requisite basis to stop a vehicle."

Bartch was not fined for the sticker violation, court records say. He received a warning instead.