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Holder Backs Limiting Miranda Rights for Terror Suspects

HeadlineMay 10, 2010

Attorney General Eric Holder said Sunday the Obama administration will seek a law allowing investigators to interrogate terrorism suspects without informing them of their Miranda rights. Holder made the announcement on ABC’s This Week.

Eric Holder: “We’re now dealing with international terrorism. And if we are going to have a system that is capable of dealing in a public safety context with this new threat, I think we have to give serious consideration to at least modifying that public safety exception. And that’s one of the things that I think we’re going to be reaching out to Congress to do, to come up with a proposal that is both constitutional, but that is also relevant to our time and the threat that we now face.”

The recent failed car bombing in Times Square and the attempted Christmas Day jet bombing has sparked a debate over when suspects need to be read their rights. In December the FBI questioned the airline bombing suspect for fifty minutes without reading him his rights. Last week the FBI interrogated the accused Times Square bomber for four hours before being told about his Miranda rights to a lawyer and to remain silent under interrogation.

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