114 CHAPTER 4|CIVIL LIBERTIES
To ensure a confession is truly a free choice, the Court established Miranda
rights. If police do not read a suspect these rights, nothing the suspect says can
be used in court.
Over time the Court has carved out exceptions to the Miranda rights require-
ment because the public has viewed the practice as “coddling criminals” and let-
ting too many people go free on legal technicalities. However, in 2000 the Court
rejected Congress’s attempt to overturn Miranda by designating all voluntary con-
fessions as legally admissible evidence. The Court ruled that it, not Congress, has
the power to determine constitutional protections for criminal defendants. The
justices also affi rmed their intent to protect the Miranda rule, saying, “Miranda
has become embedded in routine police practice to the point where the warnings
have become part of our national culture.”^76
Another Fifth Amendment right for defendants is protection against being
tried more than once for a particular crime. This double jeopardy prohibition
was extended to the states in 1969.^77 However, prosecutors can exploit two loop-
holes in this civil liberty: (1) a suspect may be tried in federal court and state court
for the same crime, and (2) if a suspect is found innocent of one set of criminal
charges brought by the state, he or she may still be found guilty of the same or simi-
lar off enses based on civil charges brought by a private individual.
The fi nal part of the Fifth Amendment is at the heart of a legal debate over
property rights; the clause says, “nor shall private property be taken for public use,
without just compensation.” For most of American history this civil liberty has
been noncontroversial. When the government needs private property for a pub-
lic use such as a highway or a park, it may enforce “physical takings” by making a
property owner sell at a fair market value. But lately a controversial interpretation
of the “takings” clause has attempted to expand just compensation for “regulatory
takings” as well. For example, if the Endangered Species Act protects an animal
whose habitat is on your land, you would not be able to develop that property and
thus its market value would probably drop. Therefore, the argument goes, because
of this law the government has “taken” some of your land’s value by protecting the
species, so the government should compensate you.
One key case ruled that if a regulation “deprives a property owner of all ben-
efi cial use of his property,” the owner must receive compensation.^78 The issue
became especially controversial around a case involving a development project
in New London, Connecticut. A working-class neighborhood was sold to a private
developer to build a waterfront hotel, offi ce space, and higher-end housing, but a
homeowner sued the city to stop the development. The Court supported the local
government, saying that “promoting economic development is a traditional and
long accepted function of government,” so a “plausible public use” is satisfi ed.^79
Ironically, after the homes had been moved or bulldozed, the developer failed to
get the necessary fi nancing. As of this writing, the waterfront property remains
an empty lot.The Sixth Amendment: The Right to Legal Counsel and a Jury Trial
The right to an attorney is a key civil liberty, because the legal system is too com-
plicated for a layperson to navigate. However, at one time poor people accused of
a felony had to defend themselves in court because they could not aff ord a lawyerMiranda rights The list of civil
liberties described in the Fifth
Amendment that must be read to a
suspect before anything the suspect
says can be used in a trial.
double jeopardy Being tried
twice for the same crime. This is
prevented by the Fifth Amendment.