Back again, to that world
that it's not safe for us
to understand, our arcane
Court declared this week,
compulsory self-incrimina-
tion is perfectly darling
and OK and all right when
one is not actually under
arrest. As Justice Breyer
put it in dissent, a def-
endant can enjoy a choice
of how he wishes his Con-
stitutional right to be
trampled, by coercion of
words or by silence. Mind
you, the Court discovered
a most disarmingly lovely,
nay delectable distinction
in a human right, invent-
ing regeneration in a man
himself, between his null
and native liberty and that
blossoming of right which
flows from being arrested.
Little Sammy Alito has been
at his forge, Alberich in-
carnate in his counterfeit.
And just as we had heard,
the compiling of our data
is so innocent.
Where does a snarky, got-
cha casuistry come from,
need anyone ask, this de-
generate delight in false
distinctions, that carves
a path for oppression at
all costs?
June 17, 2013
Leonard W. Levy
Origins of the
Fifth Amendment
op. cit.
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