A picture of the Obama administration's plan for "modernizing" Miranda is emerging, and it looks far more similar to the plan Ben Wittes proposed to the one Charles Krauthammer offered. Namely, it would allow law enforcement to postpone giving Miranda warnings as well as prolonging the time between capture and when the accused is brought before a judge, under certain circumstances. Charlie Savage reports:
President Obama's legal advisers are considering asking Congress to allow the government to detain terrorism suspects longer after their arrests before presenting them to a judge for an initial hearing, according to administration officials familiar with the discussions.
If approved, the idea to delay hearings would be attached to broader legislation to allow interrogators to withhold Miranda warnings from terrorism suspects for lengthy periods, as Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. proposed last week.
ACLU Director Anthony Romero told The New York Times that the proposal "would severely undercut the Obama administration’s assertion that they believe in the rule of law.” Tinkering with Miranda, however, clashes with the conclusions of both experienced interrogators and the administration itself that reading someone their rights does not interfere with intelligence collection. I haven't spoken to any law enforcement sources yet about whether or not presentment before a judge is an issue, but more on that later.
Over the weekend, Sen. Patrick Leahy, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, told ABC News that “whatever changes might be made, has to made within the confines of what the United States Supreme Court has already said.”
The remarkable thing about all this is that, if Obama were a Republican, the opposition to further eroding legal protections for people accused of terrorism would be stronger and more unified. As it stands, Democrats are willing to give Obama the benefit of the doubt no matter what he does. Once you've shrugged your shoulders to assassinating American citizens without trial, what could possibly shock the conscience?
-- A. Serwer
