Dickerson v. United States Case, Arguments, Impact

In Dickerson v. United States (2000), the Supreme Court ruled that Congress could not use legislation to supersede Supreme Court decisions on constitutional rules. The Court reaffirmed the ruling of Miranda v. Arizona (1966) as the primary guideline for the admissibility of statements made during custodial interrogation. Fast Facts: Dickerson v. United States Case Argued: April 19, 2000Decision Issued:  June 26, 2000Petitioner: Charles DickersonRespondent:   United StatesKey Questions: Can Congress overrule Miranda v. Arizona?Majority Decision: Justices Rehnquist, Stevens, O’Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsberg, and BreyerDissenting: Justices Scalia and ThomasRuling: Congress does not have the legislative power to supersede Miranda v. Arizona and its warnings with regard to admissibility of statements made during custodial interrogation.   Facts of the Case Charles Dickerson was indicted for a list of charges associated with bank robbery. At trial, his attorney argued that the statement he made to officers in an FBI field office was inadmissible in court under Miranda v. Arizona. Dickerson claimed that he had not received Miranda warnings before FBI interrogation. The FBI agents and local officers who had been present at the interrogation said that he had received the warnings. The dispute rose to the District Court, then to the U.S. Court of Appeals. The U.S. Court of Appeals found Dickerson had not received Miranda warnings, but that they were not necessary in his particular case. They referenced Section 3501 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, which Congress had passed two years after Miranda v. Arizona in 1968. This legislation required that statements be made voluntarily in order for them to be used in a court of law, but did not require that Miranda warnings be read. According to the Court of Appeals, Dickerson’s statement was voluntary, and thus should not be suppressed. The Court of Appeals also found that, because Miranda was not a question of constitutionality, Congress had the power to decide what types of warnings were required to make a statement admissible. The Supreme Court took on the case through a writ of certiorari. Constitutional Issues Can Congress create a new statute that (1) overrules Miranda v. Arizona and (2) establishes different guidelines for the admissibility of statements made during interrogation? Was the Miranda v. Arizona ruling based on a constitutional question? The case asked the Court to reevaluate its role in overseeing questions of admissibility. Such questions typically fall to Congress, but Congress may not â€Å"legislatively supersede† Supreme Court decisions when those decisions analyze a constitutional rule. The Arguments The U.S. government argued that Dickerson was made aware of his Miranda rights before the interrogation at the FBI field office, despite the fact that these warnings were not necessary. Like the Court of Appeals, they referenced section 3501 of U.S.C. Title 18 to argue that a confession only has to be voluntary to be admissible in court, and that the confessor does not need to be notified of his Fifth Amendment rights prior to interrogation. They pointed out that the reading of the Miranda rights is only one of the factors, under section 3501, that points to the voluntariness of the confessors statement. Additionally, attorneys on behalf of the U.S. government argued that Congress, not the Supreme Court, has the ultimate say on the rules that govern admissibility. Dickerson’s attorney argued that the FBI agents and local law enforcement violated Dickerson’s right against self-incrimination when they failed to notify him of his Miranda rights (per Miranda v. Arizona). The intent of the courts decision in Miranda v. Arizona was to protect citizens from situations that increased the likelihood of false confessions. According to Dickersons attorney, Dickerson should have been notified of his rights to alleviate the pressure of interrogation, regardless of whether his ultimate statement to officers was voluntary or not. Majority Opinion Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist delivered the 7-2 decision. In the decision, the Court found that Miranda v. Arizona was based on a constitutional question, meaning that the Supreme Court had the final say over its interpretation, and Congress did not have the right to establish different guidelines for the admissibility of evidence. The majority looked to the text of the Miranda decision. In Miranda, the Supreme Court, led by Chief Justice Earl Warren, aimed to give â€Å"concrete constitutional guidelines for law enforcement† and found that unwarned confessions were taken from individuals under â€Å"unconstitutional standards.† Dickerson v. United States also asked the Court to rule on the constitutionality of their original ruling in Miranda v. Arizona. In the majority opinion, the Justices chose not to overrule Miranda for a few reasons. First, the court applied stare decisis (a Latin term meaning to stand by things decided†), which asks the court to refer to past rulings in order to rule on a current case. Under stare decisis, overturning past decisions requires special justification. In this instance, the Court could not find special justification to overturn the Miranda v. Arizona, which by 2000 had become an important part of police practice and the wider national culture.  Unlike some constitutional rules, the Court argued, the core of Miranda rights had been able to withstand challenges and exceptions. The majority explained: â€Å"If anything, our subsequent cases have reduced the impact of the  Miranda  rule on legitimate law enforcement while reaffirming the decision’s core ruling that unwarned statements may not be used as evidence in the prosecution’s case in chief.† Dissenting Opinion Justice Antonin Scalia dissented, joined by Justice Clarence Thomas. According to Scalia, the majority opinion was an act of â€Å"judicial arrogance.† Miranda v. Arizona only served to protect individuals from â€Å"foolish (rather than compelled) confessions.† In the dissent, Justice Scalia noted that he was â€Å"not persuaded† by the majority’s claim that Miranda was better than Congress’ alternative, and suggested that the majority’s attempt to ground its decision in stare decisis was useless. Justice Scalia wrote: â€Å"[†¦] what today’s decision will stand for, whether the Justices can bring themselves to say it or not, is the power of the Supreme Court to write a prophylactic, extraconstitutional Constitution, binding on Congress and the States.† The Impact In Dickerson v. United States, the Supreme Court asserted its authority over constitutional questions, reaffirming the role of Miranda v. Arizona in police practice. Through Dickerson, the Supreme Court emphasized the role of Miranda warnings in proactively protecting rights. The Court maintained that the totality of the circumstances approach, which Congress sought to implement, risked individual protections. Sources Dickerson v. United States, 530 U.S. 428 (2000)Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966)

Domestic Violence And Sexual Abuse - 1456 Words

Domestic Violence is violence between intimate partners. Intimate partners can be people who live together or people who are currently dating or have dated in the past. â€Å"Perhaps a better definition of domestic violence is emotional abuse, physical abuse, or sexual abuse between people who have at some point in time had an intimate or family relationship.† (AAETS). Emotional abuse is when an intimate partner has continuously criticized you, manipulated you with lies, and humiliated you in public or private. Physical abuse is when an intimate partner has hit you, thrown objects at you, or threatened to hit you with a weapon. Sexual abuse is when an intimate partner has criticized you sexually, raped you, or insisted on touching you†¦show more content†¦Domestic Violence is a very serious issue that has steadily increased over the last couple of years. Most recently to the attention of the public, Baltimore Ravens star running back Ray Rice is seen in a video knocki ng his girlfriend out cold and dragging her body out of an elevator. Some long term effects of Domestic Violence may include: Anxiety, depression, poverty, addiction, and self-neglect. Some effects domestic violence has on children and teenagers may include: Criminal behavior, low self-esteem, aggression, depression, and agitation. This problem is important because it continues to rise and it has an impact on many people. â€Å"Domestic violence occurs in every culture, country, and age group. It affects people from all socioeconomic, educational, and religious backgrounds and happens in both same-sex and heterosexual relationships.† (DCADV). Also effected by domestic violence are children. They can be both directly and indirectly effected by it by hearing it, seeing it, etc. With the advancements of technology, more and more teenagers are vulnerable to dating violence. Many immigrants do not report domestic violence in fear of being deported. Power and control issues may als o be present in gay communities no matter a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Disabled women are not only vulnerable but also have more fear of being hurt. â€Å"Domestic violence affects employee health and

How Can One Connect Anita Roddick and Entrepreneurship free essay sample

Her personal qualities match with the ones that are often said to be the most imported characteristics of an entrepreneur. She is creative and she is really driven. Entrepreneurship is not about what is done but how its done. And she uses her possessed skills to max at all time in her company to make the best of it. I. e. in the start up phase of body shop she lacked money to buy in more bottles, so she began to offer a refill service. Its small measures like that that really makes me like her and her thinking. Entrepreneurship is often associated with innovation. And by again small measurements she innovated an existing product to fulfill 2 purposes instead of just 1. The purpose to make your skin to feel soft and smell good, and the purpose to fulfill human need to be good to the environment. And by innovating her product she made herself a lot different for her competitors. We will write a custom essay sample on How Can One Connect Anita Roddick and Entrepreneurship? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page 2. Analyse the entrepreneurial actions in the case material. How do these connect to the tools from the course? We could apply sarashvaty model on how business start, Anita work through a effectioation model. She did no market research . She turned to herself and found a need. The need, not having to buy a big bottle of soup or an equivalent product if she only needed a small size bottle. This combined with her interest of natural raw materials that could be used as replacements for a equivalent product made by chemicals. A combination which turned out to be an success. She was also right in ansoff matrix. She knew there was a big market and her product wasn’t really knew to the coustmer, just slightly reinvented to make her different. Early she really focused on affordable loss and bootstrapping. She made the most of her pencies and made a thing out 3. Discuss the importance of resources for Anita. She really focus on her products to be â€Å"natural† ?. It sounds good in the ears of customers. Other resources like human capital, she understand that she cant know everything, therefore she hires people who possesses the skills she lacks. 4. To what extent can Anita’s success be connected to her background, personality and ethical beliefs? What can others learn from her success (young people, old people, men, women, immigrants, in different markets etc)? She learned the importence of being flexible to adapt to he market. 5. How important is â€Å"flexibility† for Anita and The Body Shop? Red letters 6. How does Anita try to involve more women in the workplace? 7. What type of ethical and environmental behaviour does The Body Shop engage in? Who does it really benefit? Save the resources of the world. Really all kinds of societal questions, like anti war camping. Them self. 8. Is it really possible to behave â€Å"ethically† in every facet of starting, growing, and managing a business? Or is this just a marketing ploy? Please give examples. No, ethically stuff costs more money.