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May 10, 2010

Holder Backs Limiting Miranda Rights for Terror Suspects
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Attorney General Eric Holder said Sunday the Obama administration will
seek a law allowing investigators to interrogate terrorism suspects
without informing them of their Miranda rights. Holder made the
announcement on ABC’s This Week.

Eric Holder: “We’re now dealing with international terrorism. And if we
are going to have a system that is capable of dealing in a public safety
context with this new threat, I think we have to give serious
consideration to at least modifying that public safety exception. And
that’s one of the things that I think we’re going to be reaching out to
Congress to do, to come up with a proposal that is both constitutional,
but that is also relevant to our time and the threat that we now face.”

The recent failed car bombing in Times Square and the attempted
Christmas Day jet bombing has sparked a debate over when suspects need
to be read their rights. In December the FBI questioned the airline
bombing suspect for fifty minutes without reading him his rights. Last
week the FBI interrogated the accused Times Square bomber for four hours
before being told about his Miranda rights to a lawyer and to remain
silent under interrogation.



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