Democrat-backed terror bill would ‘gut Miranda rights’
Blogger Marcy Wheeler calls Schiff's proposed law a "gutting of Miranda rights." She points to comments by Ben Wittes of the Brookings Institution, who supports the legislation and said it should "focus more on suspects who pose a national security threat rather than those sought in connection with particular terrorism-related crimes," according to Politico.
To Wheeler, that suggests that many more people than just terrorism suspects could be caught in the new rules.
"So can an environmental activist lose Miranda rights under this bill?" Wheeler asks. "Can Quakers?"
Ken Gude of the Center for American Progress described the bill to Politico as "a proposed solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. ... Whatever the political theater surrounding Miranda warnings, the FBI obtained valuable intelligence information from both the underwear and Times Square bombers under the existing rules.”
He added: “The combined effect of denial of access to an attorney or presentment before a judge for 48 hours is of extremely dubious value and is precisely the kind of interrogation the Constitution is designed to prohibit.”
David Colgin, an assistant federal defender in Philadelphia, told Politico he found it "ironic that politicians keep talking about the need to limit constitutional rights, since none of these protections have actually stymied any investigations so far in terrorism cases. ... Overall, this legislation reflects the pervasive misconception that coercion works, and that we just need to let Jack Bauer get to work on our terrorism suspects to get the truth."
Read whole article:
http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0801/terror-bill-gut-miranda-rights/
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