Cite as: 538 U. S. 760 (2003)
Opinion of Thomas, J.
someone who exercises his core Fifth Amendment right not to be a "witness" against himself in a "criminal case." See Griffin v. California, 380 U. S. 609, 614 (1965) (the trial court's and the prosecutor's comments on the defendant's failure to testify violates the Self-Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment). Our holdings in these cases demonstrate that, contrary to the Ninth Circuit's view, mere coercion does not violate the text of the Self-Incrimination Clause absent use of the compelled statements in a criminal case against the witness.
We fail to see how Martinez was any more "compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself" than an immunized witness forced to testify on pain of contempt. One difference, perhaps, is that the immunized witness knows that his statements will not, and may not, be used against him, whereas Martinez likely did not. But this does not make the statements of the immunized witness any less "compelled" and lends no support to the Ninth Circuit's conclusion that coercive police interrogations, absent the use of the involuntary statements in a criminal case, violate the Fifth Amendment's Self-Incrimination Clause. Moreover, our cases provide that those subjected to coercive police interrogations have an automatic protection from the use of their involuntary statements (or evidence derived from their statements) in any subsequent criminal trial. Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U. S. 298, 307-308 (1985); United States v. Blue, 384 U. S. 251, 255 (1966); Leyra v. Denno, 347 U. S. 556, 558 (1954); Ashcraft v. Tennessee, 322 U. S. 143, 155 (1944). See also Pillsbury Co. v. Conboy, 459 U. S. 248, 278 (1983) (Blackmun, J., concurring in judgment); Williams v. United States, 401 U. S. 646, 662 (1971) (Brennan, J., concurring in result). This protection is, in fact, coextensive with the use and dein fact compelled. A waiver of immunity is therefore a prospective waiver of the core self-incrimination right in any subsequent criminal proceeding, and States cannot condition public employment on the waiver of constitutional rights, Lefkowitz, supra, at 85.
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