Supreme Court protects police from litigation for failing to provide Miranda warnings

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Washington Examiner

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that people do not have the right to sue police officers for violating their civil rights if law enforcement officers fail to provide a Miranda warning.

Justice Samuel Alito authored the 6-3 ruling that was joined by the high court's Republican-appointed majority, determining that "a violation of Miranda is not itself a violation of the Fifth Amendment," which is the statute that protects people against self-incrimination.

The case, Vega v. Tekoh, calls to question whether a person may state a claim for relief against a law enforcement officer "simply on an officer's failure to provide the warnings prescribed" in Miranda v. Arizona, the landmark 1966 decision that protects the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and the "right to remain silent."

SUPREME COURT CONSIDERS IF POLICE SHOULD BE SUED OVER FAILURE TO READ MIRANDA RIGHTS

More specifically, the case involves a procedural dispute stemming from a law enforcement officer's failure to recite Miranda warnings to a California hospital worker, Terence Tekoh, who was accused of sexually assaulting a patient in 2014.

Alito wrote that "a violation of Miranda does not necessarily constitute a violation of the Constitution, and therefore such a violation does not constitute 'the deprivation of [a] right ... secured by the Constitution' that would authorize a civil rights suit against a police officer."

While Thursday's high court did not throw out the right to one's defense against self-incrimination, police officers will not be held liable for failure to recite Miranda warnings.