Obama Wants To Deny You An Attorney During Police Questioning

While everyone is distracted by the swine flu and wondering if they’re on Janet Napolitano’s terrorist short-list, Obama has decided you don’t really need an attorney while you are being questioned by police, and that your right to invoke doesn’t extend to this aspect of a potential criminal proceeding.

The Supreme Court Michigan vs Jackson ruling in 1986 established that, if a defendants have a lawyer or have asked for one to be present, police may not interview them until the lawyer is present. Any such questioning cannot be used in court even if the suspect agrees to waive his right to a lawyer because he would have made that decision without legal counsel, said the Supreme Court.

However, in a current case that seeks to change the law, the US Justice Department argues that the existing rule is unnecessary and outdated The effort to sweep aside the 23-year-old Michigan vs Jackson ruling is one of several moves by the new government to have dismayed civil rights groups.

The sixth amendment of the US constitution protects the right of criminal suspects to be “represented by counsel”, but the Obama administration argues that this merely means to “protect the adversary process” in a criminal trial. The Justice Department, in a brief signed by solicitor general Elena Kagan, said the 1986 decision “serves no real purpose” and offers only “meager benefits”. You can read the government’s brief here on Right Soup.

The government said that suspects DO still have the right to remain silent, and that officers must respect that decision. So there’s that.

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