You have the right to remain silent. Or maybe not. In one of this year’s most closely watched cases, the Supreme Court will reconsider its best-known criminal justice decision, Miranda v. Arizona (1966).
At issue in Dickerson v. United States, No. 99-5525, is whether Congress can overturn Miranda by statute. The case, to be argued April 19, has generated a great deal of interest ever since the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit, against the interest of the parties and at the invitation of a right-wing public interest group’s amicus brief, ruled that 18 U.S.C. Sec. 3501 had indeed overruled Miranda.
