Cite as: 538 U. S. 760 (2003)
Opinion of Ginsburg, J.
Thus, whatever Martinez might have thought about Chavez's interference with his treatment, I would agree with the District Court that "the totality of the circumstances in this case" establishes "that [Martinez's] statement was not voluntarily given." CV 98-9313, at 7, App. to Pet. for Cert. 22a; accord, Martinez v. Oxnard, 270 F. 3d 852, 857 (CA9 2001). It is indeed "hard to imagine a situation less conducive to the exercise of a rational intellect and a free will." Ante, at 798 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (quoting Mincey, 437 U. S., at 398); see ante, at 783 (Stevens, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part) (characterizing Martinez's interrogation as "the functional equivalent of an attempt to obtain an involuntary confession from a prisoner by torturous methods"); cf. 4 J. Wigmore, Evidence § 2251, p. 827 (1923) (noting about police interrogations common-law jurisprudence seeks to ward off: "It is far pleasanter to sit comfortably in the shade rubbing red pepper into a poor devil's eyes than to go about in the sun hunting up evidence." (emphasis deleted and internal quotation marks omitted)).2
In common with the Due Process Clause, the privilege against self-incrimination safeguards "the freedom of the individual from the arbitrary power of governmental authorities." E. Griswold, The Fifth Amendment Today 51 (1955). Closely connected "with the struggle to eliminate torture as a governmental practice," id., at 3, the privilege is rightly regarded as "one of the great landmarks in man's struggle to make himself civilized," id., at 7. Its core idea is captured in the Latin maxim, "Nemo tenetur prodere se ipsum," in
2 There was an eyewitness, local farm worker Eluterio Flores, to the encounter between the police and Martinez. See Brief for Respondent 1; Defendants' Opposition to Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Adjudication of Issues, in Record for No. CV 98-9313 (CD Cal.), p. 3; id., at App. E (tran-script of videotaped deposition of Eluterio Flores). The record does not reveal the extent to which the police interrogated Flores about the encounter.
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