ambivalent comment

“No person shall be . . . compelled in any crimenal case to be a witness against himself.” U.S. Const. amend. IV. The Constitution does not “celebrate” silence for any purpose; rather, it guarantees the right of the accused to remain silent. It contains no qualifiers or caveats. The argument here seems to be that we should allow law enforcement to compell the accused to speak (even via torture!) simply because “the overwhelming majority” thinks the accused's right to remain silent has a limit. If that majority feels so strongly about that, perhaps it should use the political process to amend the Constitution; short of that, it seems the defense argument here is on very firm Constitutional ground.