June 13 · This Day in America
Ernesto Miranda confessed to a crime after two hours of police questioning, never told he could stay silent, never told he could have a lawyer. On this day the Supreme Court rules 5–4 in Miranda v. Arizona that the Constitution's protection against self-incrimination reaches into the interrogation room itself. Before police may question someone in custody, they must say it out loud: you have the right to remain silent; anything you say can be used against you; you have the right to an attorney. Chief Justice Earl Warren, a former prosecutor, writes the opinion. The decision is fiercely contested then and argued about still. But the warning passes into the country's bloodstream — heard in a million traffic stops, recited by every child watching television, a small republic-sized promise that power must announce its limits before it acts.
Source: guides.loc.gov
Also on this day · 1967
He had already argued Brown v. Board and won, dismantling "separate but equal" from the lawyer's table. On this day President Lyndon Johnson names Thurgood Marshall to the Supreme Court — the first Black justice in the Court's history. "It is the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man and the right place," Johnson says. The man who spent decades arguing for the Constitution's promise would now help decide what it means.
Source: www.history.com