Legal Commentary

Supreme Court Overturns Michigan v.Jackson on Questioning Suspects Without Lawyer

By Jeralyn

Justice Anton Scalia announced a decision from the bench today:

The high court, in a 5-4 ruling, overturned the 1986 Michigan v. Jackson ruling, which said police may not initiate questioning of a defendant who has a lawyer or has asked for one unless the attorney is present.

The Michigan ruling applied even to defendants who agree to talk to the authorities without their lawyers.

Justice John Paul Stevens dissented, and read his dissent from the bench: [More...]

The Michigan v. Jackson opinion was written by Justice John Paul Stevens, the only current justice who was on the court at the time. He dissented from the ruling, and in an unusual move read his dissent aloud from the bench. It was the first time this term a justice had read a dissent aloud.

"The police interrogation in this case clearly violated petitioner's Sixth Amendment right to counsel," Stevens said. Overruling the Jackson case, he said, "can only diminish the public's confidence in the reliability and fairness of our system of justice."

Background here.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 26, 2009 (boomark / email).