Monday, November 25, 2002

So, at what point do the libertarians figure out that tax cuts aren't worth this?

[A] farm worker here who was shot five times after a brief encounter with police... While the farm worker lay gravely wounded, a police supervisor pressed him to talk, to explain his version of the events. He survived, paralyzed and blinded, and sued the police for, among other things, coercive interrogation.

But Oxnard police assert that the Miranda ruling does not include a "constitutional right to be free of coercive interrogation," but only a right not to have forced confessions used at trial.

Bush administration lawyers have sided with the police in the case. The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Dec. 4.
Police can hold people in custody and force them to talk, so long as their incriminating statements are not used to prosecute them, U.S. Solicitor Gen. Theodore B. Olson and Michael Chertoff, the chief of the Justice Department's criminal division, say in their brief to the court.
If I could, I'd show the picture of the guy. Instead, I'll invite readers to click on the link and look for themselves. Regardless, it looks more and more likely that the self-serving mouthing of the language of rights by conservatives (like Ted Olson) is about to get tossed out the window.

I can't wait to see the gyrations of the echo chamber as it tries to spin this one. Unless, of course, they just clam up about it and pretend it didn't happen.

(Courtesy of Atrios)

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