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Opinion of the Court
him." Id., at 236. The Court noted that it was not clear whether the Fifth Amendment protects prearrest silence, id., at 236, n. 2, but held that, assuming it does, the prosecutor's comments were constitutionally permissible. "[T]he Constitution does not forbid 'every government-imposed choice in the criminal process that has the effect of discouraging the exercise of constitutional rights.' " Id., at 236 (quoting Chaffin v. Stynchcombe, 412 U. S. 17, 30 (1973)). Once a defendant takes the stand, he is " 'subject to cross-examination impeaching his credibility just like any other witness.' " Jenkins, supra, at 235-236 (quoting Grunewald v. United States, 353 U. S. 391, 420 (1957)).
Indeed, in Brooks v. Tennessee, 406 U. S. 605 (1972), the Court suggested that arguing credibility to the jury—which would include the prosecutor's comments here—is the preferred means of counteracting tailoring of the defendant's testimony. In that case, the Court found unconstitutional Tennessee's attempt to defeat tailoring by requiring defendants to testify at the outset of the defense or not at all. This requirement, it said, impermissibly burdened the defendant's right to testify because it forced him to decide whether to do so before he could determine that it was in his best interest. Id., at 610. The Court expressed its awareness, however, of the danger that tailoring presented. The antidote, it said, was not Tennessee's heavy-handed rule, but the more nuanced "adversary system[, which] reposes judgment of the credibility of all witnesses in the jury." Id., at 611. The adversary system surely envisions—indeed, it requires— that the prosecutor be allowed to bring to the jury's attention the danger that the Court was aware of.
Respondent and the dissent also contend that the prose-cutor's comments were impermissible because they were "generic" rather than based upon any specific indication of tailoring. Such comment, the dissent claims, is unconstitutional because it "does not serve to distinguish guilty defendants from innocent ones." Post, at 77. But this Court has
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