Entire decision viewable here.
The question for the court was this: Does the accused have a right to no longer be interrogated because he has invoked his right to remain silent, simply by refusing to answer some or all questioning?
Predictably, the SCOTUS was 5-4, Kennedy the deciding vote, again, with the conservatives on the court (prompting more than one reply to this diary that will say "isn't Kennedy in that group by now?"
More below the fold.
Kennedy wrote the opinion for the majority, while Justice Sotomayor authored the dissent.
Interesting to note that none of the justices filed concurring decisions on either side, which to me says that this question was unprecedented in terms of concept, although there are citations in the opinions.
I just don't know about this one. The liberal in me says that police/investigators shouldn't be able to hound a suspect for hours, hoping to get a concession, a misquote or misspeak, etc. Especially when the crime is murder, I want a system that gets it right, not gets what is easy.
HOWEVA
The "there aren't any monsters in the closet" part of me reads what actually happened and thinks:
Why didn't Thompkins request a lawyer?
Why did Thompkins answer some questions before the damning answer, if his intent was to stay silent, per his miranda rights?
What line could the SCOTUS reasonably establish for "OK, this suspect is invoking his right to remain silent"? 5 minutes of silence? 10? 30? 15 after he's requested a lawyer?
I have no idea how I would've come down on this one, assuming I was even qualified to do so. Frankly, I'm surprised the SCOTUS took this one up, but I suppose the disagreement between the lower courts forced them too.
Thoughts? Opinions? Do I have any details wrong or important ones ommitted?
EDIT: More and more, this seems to be a sticky spot for all the justices. Sotomayor's dissent is both eloquent and spot-on, but didn't taking this case force the SCOTUS to set a precedent that is probably an overreaction to what happened, regardless of what decision was the majority's? You would expect, from the headlines, that this guy forgot to ask for a lawyer and was broken down from being silent after 3 hours of harrassment or something, but that's not what happened.