LAW, ORDER, AND THE RIGHTS OF CRIMINAL DEFENDANTS | 113been monitoring the phone calls of many U.S. citizens who have had contact with
suspected terrorists overseas. These calls were intercepted without the approval
of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA), which Congress created in
1978 for approving the interception of calls. A few months later in 2005, another
NSA program aimed at creating a database of every phone call made within the
borders of the United States was revealed. Phone companies AT&T, Verizon, and
BellSouth reportedly had turned over records of millions of customers’ phone
calls to the government.^73 Critics warn that phone surveillance may be just the tip
of the domestic surveillance iceberg because the government might be monitoring
travel, credit card, and banking records more widely than we think.^74
As you can imagine, the debate over domestic surveillance has generated
intense disagreement. The idea that politics is everywhere may seem threatening
if you are concerned about protecting your civil liberties, or it may seem reassur-
ing if you are more concerned about national security. Either way, this issue will
remain signifi cant in your daily life for the foreseeable future.
The Fifth Amendment: Self- Incrimination
The familiar phrase “I plead the Fifth” has been part of our criminal justice sys-
tem since the Bill of Rights was ratifi ed, ensuring that a suspect cannot be com-
pelled to provide court testimony that would cause him or her to be prosecuted for
a crime. However, what about outside a court of law? If a police offi cer coerces a
confession out of a suspect, is that self-incrimination?
Such police interrogations were allowed until a landmark case in 1966. Ernesto
Miranda had been convicted in an Arizona court of kidnapping and rape, on
the basis of a confession extracted after two hours of questioning in which he
was not read his rights. The Court overturned the conviction, saying that police
interrogation “is inherently intimidating” and in these circumstances “no state-
ment obtained from the defendant can truly be the product of his free choice.”^75
THIS IS A TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF THE
Miranda Warning card that police
offi cers carry with them and read
to a suspect after an arrest.