In a split decision the Supreme Court reduced the historic protection of the Miranda rights for criminal suspects. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote this ruling, turned rights of protection from police abuse “upside down.”
The majority decision necessitates a suspect to affirmitatively asserts their right to remain silent. No longer does mere silence invoke the famous right to remain silent. Justice Anthony Kennedy, wrote when a suspect goes forward and speaks to the police interrogators after he has been advised of his right to remain silent, effectively waives his right to remain silent.
This decision allows police to continue to question a suspect who without invoking his right to remain silent just sits there. This will open the door for prolonged interrogations with the hope that the suspect will break and confess or offer some evidence that may be used against him.
Earlier in this session the high court put a time limit on the period that a suspect’s invocation of his right to a lawyer is valid. In the earlier decisions the court placed a 14 day limit from a suspects release from custody on the ban on questioning him after he invokes his right to an attorney. Additionally they removed the requirement that police have to openly advise the suspect of his right to an attorney.
It appears the high court is slowly dismantling the protections that the Miranda rights have afforded criminal defendants.