The buzz today over the Supreme Court's rulings on post-9/11 detainees has overshadowed another significant judgment from the nation's highest court that strengthens Americans' Miranda rights. Under attack for years as a liberal excess of the Warren court, the landmark Miranda vs. Arizona ruling, which requires law enforcement officers to inform prisoners of their constitutional rights at arrest, seemed as though it was effectively on its way out before the more conservative supremes we have now. But today's 5-4 decision instead clarified the implementation of Miranda by closing a long-standing loophole -- police officers may no longer deliberately attempt to extract a confession from suspects, read the Miranda rights and then try to get suspects to repeat the confession so that it would be admissible in court.
You can see the court's decision here.
Looks like Miranda is here to stay.
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