Dickerson v. United States, 530 U.S. 428, 21 (2000)

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448

DICKERSON v. UNITED STATES

Scalia, J., dissenting

the "absurdity of denying that a confession obtained under these circumstances is compelled").

The dissenters, for their part, also understood Miranda's holding to be based on the "premise . . . that pressure on the suspect must be eliminated though it be only the subtle influence of the atmosphere and surroundings." Id., at 512 (Harlan, J., dissenting). See also id., at 535 (White, J., dissenting) ("[I]t has never been suggested, until today, that such questioning was so coercive and accused persons so lacking in hardihood that the very first response to the very first question following the commencement of custody must be conclusively presumed to be the product of an overborne will"). And at least one case decided shortly after Miranda explicitly confirmed the view. See Orozco v. Texas, 394 U. S. 324, 326 (1969) ("[T]he use of these admissions obtained in the absence of the required warnings was a flat violation of the Self-Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment as construed in Miranda").

So understood, Miranda was objectionable for innumerable reasons, not least the fact that cases spanning more than 70 years had rejected its core premise that, absent the warnings and an effective waiver of the right to remain silent and of the (thitherto unknown) right to have an attorney present, a statement obtained pursuant to custodial interrogation was necessarily the product of compulsion. See Crooker v. California, 357 U. S. 433 (1958) (confession not involuntary despite denial of access to counsel); Cicenia v. Lagay, 357 U. S. 504 (1958) (same); Powers v. United States, 223 U. S. 303 (1912) (lack of warnings and counsel did not render statement before United States Commissioner involuntary); Wilson v. United States, 162 U. S. 613 (1896) (same). Moreover, history and precedent aside, the decision in Miranda, if read as an explication of what the Constitution requires, is preposterous. There is, for example, simply no basis in reason for concluding that a response to the very first question asked, by a suspect who already knows all of the rights de-

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