TBA Law Blog

TBA Law Blog

Court: Police Can’t Be Sued Over Miranda Warnings

Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 24, 2022
News Type: U.S. Supreme Court

Police cannot be sued for failing to read criminal defendants their Miranda warnings, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week, Bloomberg Law reports. In a 6-3 decision that broke along ideological lines, the court said its landmark ruling in Miranda v. Arizona does not provide a basis for criminal defendants to bring civil rights suits against police for not providing warnings against self-incrimination. Writing for the court, Justice Samuel Alito said Miranda warnings are meant to prevent improper police questioning and the use of statements obtained during such interrogations. A violation of the rules doesn’t itself run afoul of the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. “Those rules, to be sure, are ‘constitutionally based,’ but they are prophylactic rules nonetheless,” Alito said. Writing in dissent, Justice Elena Kagan said the court’s ruling “prevents individuals from obtaining any redress when police violate their rights under Miranda.”

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