Today is the anniversary of the 1966 Supreme Court case Miranda vs. Arizona, in which the Warren Court once again created a Constitutional right nowhere mentioned or implied in the Constitution.
The "right" in question is the right to be read one’s "Miranda rights"–a term based on this decision. They are the standard things you hear on TV shows: "You have a right to remain silent, etc., etc."
The case involved Ernesto Miranda (left), a hoodlum (despite his dress in the picture) who was constantly being arrested for various offenses. In the instance leading to the Miranda Case, he was arrested for kidnapping, robbery, and rape. He confessed during police questioning but his lawyer argued to the Supreme Court that he didn’t have adequate awareness of his right not to confess.
Though folks today tend to accept the Miranda Decision without question, at the time it was hotly controversial. In fact, the Court was divided 5-4, with notables such as Justices John Marshall Harlan II, Byron White, and Potter Stewart dissenting.
People at the time–both police officers and ordinary folks–thought it was absurd to compel police to go out of their way to, in essence, encourage criminals not to confess their crimes.
The counter argument, of course, involved claiming that this was a way of ensuring that the police did not coerce confessions out of innocent individuals in their custody.
Whatever one may think of the merits of the matter, there is not one bit of the Constitution that states or implies that police have an obligation to do this. The Warren Court’s mandate that they do so, therefore, constituted legislating from the bench and one more of its usurpations of the democratic process–for where the issue should have been settled was in the legislatures.
Following the Miranda decision Miranda himself was re-convicted of kidnapping and
rape and put in prison. After he got out, he went back to his life of
hoodlumry and was eventually killed in a knife fight. The man who killed him was then dutifully read his Miranda rights, following which he refused to confessed, was released, and escaped. He was never reapprehended.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MIRANDA THE MAN.
LEARN MORE ABOUT MIRANDA THE DECSION.
My favorite story:
Man gets arrested, taken back to the police station, and read his rights. He says he wants a lawyer (demonstrating that he understands his rights).
The police officer (being nice) gets up and goes to call a lawyer. As he’s leaving, the man asks “what happens now.”
The officer responds: “well, now you confess.”
Which is exactly what the man does. And the confession is admitted into court.
“O! Strange new world that has such creatures in’t!”
Why did you put a picture of Al Franken with this post?