Anyone who shares my mild addiction to the television program, Law and Order, has heard the Miranda warning numerous times. "You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to speak to an attorney, and to have an attorney present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be provided for you at government expense."
Now, in the wake of the failed bombing of Times Square, some in Congress, including Maine Senator Susan Collins, and Attorney General Eric Holder have suggested we should weaken the Miranda warning.
There is no reason to do this. Dismantling our Constitution makes us less free, and we are all less safe in the long run when we abandon our most cherished values. The Miranda rights exist to prevent government coercion into false confession. The Miranda rules are embodied in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution which states that no person "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."
It is very troubling that the Obama Administration, who promised during his campaign to restore the rule of law, continues to chip slowly away at our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com has an excellent column about this pointing out that the new targets are United States citizens.
It is particularly troubling that the Senator Susan Collins and Attorney General Eric Holder would have us sacrifice a long-established Constitutional right when there is no evidence whatsoever that Miranda rights have prevented law enforcement from obtaining information from arrested suspects in terrorism cases. Holder himself states that both the would-be Christmas Day and Times Square bombers continued to provide information to the FBI after being informed of their rights.
Getting rid of the Miranda rule in certain circumstances would be unconstitutional. The Supreme Court established these rules in the 1966 case of Miranda v. Arizona. The Supreme Court ruled as recently as 2000 in Dickerson v. United States that Congress does not have the authority to overrule Miranda, which is a constitutional rule.
You can hear Anthony Romero on Hardball here. Anthony says it best: this is a "bedrock right." The terrorists win when we abandon our fundamental American values -- embodied by the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights.