Just for a moment close your eyes and go back to a day when you opened your bank statements without a cold stab of fear, when you didn't think of America as an angry, autocratic nation, when Limbaugh was still a disk jockey, when the rule of law meant something -- and when you still had some respect for the Supreme Court. Okay? Feeling serene? Need one more "om..."? Ready?
The Supreme Court on Tuesday overturned a long-standing ruling that
stopped police from initiating questions unless a defendant's lawyer
was present, a move that will make it easier for prosecutors to
interrogate suspects.The high court, in a 5-4 ruling, overturned
the 1986 Michigan v. Jackson ruling, which said police may not initiate
questioning of a defendant who has a lawyer or has asked for one unless
the attorney is present.
Well, okay. Obama (and Solicitor General Elena Kagan) actually go along with this. But that doesn't reassure me. If the original ruling (the Jackson ruling) was badly worded or not completely thought out, that's one thing. But in today's world where we are learning more and more about how overbearing and untransparent the state can be -- when DNA tests are revealing how many people have been wrongly convicted -- we should making very sure that an already discredited Supreme Court majority hasn't removed yet another protection for the non-corporate, non-bankrolled, average American citizen.
For the first time ever, dissenting justice Stevens read his dissent aloud from the bench, saying this decision "can only diminish the public's confidence in the reliability and fairness of our system of justice."
I'd say we're living in pretty precarious times when it comes to justice and upholding the Constitution.
