June 26, 2000

The Supreme Court said today that police must continue to tell people they arrest that they have a legal right to remain silent and may incriminate themselves if they don't.

News Specialist Charles Sherrill reports from our Washington Bureau.

The high court resoundingly reaffirmed the so-called Miranda rule which is meant to protect people in police custody from being coerced into confessions.

Miranda requires police to warn those they arrest that anything they say can be used against them in court and that they're entitled to a lawyer before talking to the police.

By a seven to two margin, the court said that's a basic right that no act of Congress can supercede.

Paul Cassell, University of Utah: "IT'S A SAD DAY IN AMERICAN WHEN THE COURT HAS PAID SO LITTLE ATTENTION TO VICTIMS OF CRIME AND LAW-ABIDING AMERICANS. THE INEVITABLE RESULTS OF THE DECISION TODAY WILL BE THAT THOUSANDS OF CONFESSED DANGEROUS CRIMINALS WILL GO FREE JUST BECAUSE POLICE OFFICERS HAVE MADE SOME MISTAKES IN DEALING WITH THE HIGHLY TECHNICAL MIRANDA RULES."

U. of U. law professor Paul Cassell went before the court to defend a little used law that says absence of a warning should not automatically invalidate a voluntary confession.

After 34 years of use, the Court said the Miranda warning has too much history and legal precendent to overrule.