Obama administration keeps new policy on Miranda secret

[cali]

The Justice Department has a new policy for terrorism interrogations -- but officials won't publicly release it
By Justin Elliott

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Obama admin keeps views on Miranda secret
AP/Susan Walsh
Barack Obama and Eric Holder

The Obama administration has issued new guidance on use of the Miranda warning in interrogations of terrorism suspects, potentially chipping away at the rule that bars the government from using information in court if it was gathered before a suspect was informed of his right to remain silent and to an attorney.

But the Department of Justice is refusing to publicly release the guidance, with a spokesman describing it in an interview as an "internal document." So we don't know the administration's exact interpretation of Miranda, even though it may have significantly reshaped the way terrorism interrogations are conducted.

The Miranda warning, which was created by a 1966 Supreme Court decision of that name, requires that police interrogators inform a criminal suspect of his rights before an interrogation. If the police fail to do this, statements made during the interrogation are not admissible in court. The rule, which was designed to prevent coercive interrogations, is rooted in the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and the Constitution's due process clause.

Beginning after the failed Christmas day bombing in 2009, renewed attention centered on Miranda and the Obama Justice Department's use of the so-called "public safety exception" to the rule. The suspects in the Christmas case and the subsequent Times Square bombing case were interrogated for up to four hours before agents informed them of their Miranda rights. Attorney General Eric Holder cited the public safety exception to explain that delay; several law professors told me at the time that the DOJ appeared to be using an expanded interpretation of the exception.

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http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2011/01/19/obama_holder_doj_miranda

[Solly Mack]

1. K&R

[gratuitous]

2. Hey, if you can't bully an entrapped 19-year-old

We could all be in big danger!

I believe the proper legal term is "What a load."

[kenny blankenship]

3. Transparency!

We're not going to tell you exactly which articles and provisions of the Constitution still apply, but you can sort of figure out which rights still exist using inductive reasoning by filing brief after brief against your detention and seeing which ones we tear up in front of your face and throw to the blood soaked floor.

[Vinnie From Indy]

4. Well isn't that just wonderful !

Any bets that the "public safety exception" will someday include drug possesion and civil disobedience?

[Webster Green]

5. Nice. Everything is secret with this administration

Obama, like the chimp, prefers the type of justice that was common before that pesky Magna Carta and stupid Miranda stuff got in the way of punishing the lowly common folks.

Yay! Let's hear it for the Dark Ages!

USA! USA! USA! :patriot:

[blindpig]

6. k&r

:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

7. K&R

[WinkyDink]

8. AG Holder then is a criminal, as there is no "exception".

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madrchsod]

10. so that`s what dick was talking about a few days ago....

[somone]

11. Dick Cheney is so proud

[Little Star]

12. Is GWB still president????? n/t