[speechlesstx]

Barack Obama administration seeks to change police questioning law
The Obama administration is urging the US Supreme Court to overturn a landmark decision that stops police from questioning suspects unless they have a lawyer present.

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.

President Barack Obama has already provoked controversy by backing the continued imprisonment without trial of enemy combatants in Afghanistan and by limiting the rights of prisoners to challenge evidence used to convict them.

The 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a current case that seeks to change the law, the US Justice Department argues that the existing rule is unnecessary and outdated.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 sixth amendment of the US constitution protects the right of criminal suspects to be "represented by counsel", but the Obama regime argues that this merely means to "protect the adversary process" in a criminal trial.

The Justice Department, in a brief signed by Elena Kagan, the solicitor general, said the 1986 decision "serves no real purpose" and offers only "meagre benefits".

Wow, if Bush had done this it would have been the lead story on every network. It would have been the headline of the NY Times, WaPo and every other major newspaper. I guess it's good we have British media to hold the administration accountable. Where's the ACLU? Where's the outrage?

Go ahead, spin Obama out of this one.

[earl237]

You're right, there is liberal bias in the media on this issue, but that is nothing new. As for overturning this law, I believe there is no way it would pass. I'm a law and order, and tough on crime type, but I believe that having a lawyer present when talking to police is an essential right. One of the main reasons for wrongful convictions is because innocent people make statements to police and answer questions without a lawyer and police then twist innocuous statements to make the person look guilty, for example suppose a child was murdered in a park and police ask an innocent person with no knowledge of the crime where he was that afternoon, he has nothing to hide so he says "I was walking in the park all afternoon". This statement is true, but police can use it to place him at the scene of the crime and wrongfully convict him based on this innocent statement. Never talk to police without a lawyer.

[excon]

Go ahead, spin Obama out of this one.

Hello Steve:

Obama sucks. Feel better?

excon

[speechlesstx]

Hello Steve:

Obama sucks. Feel better?

Gettin' there. ;)

[spitvenom]

No Spin here that Sucks.