Category: Fifth Amendment Law
Alexa: Play Confession
It sits in your house, passively recording everything you say. It knows what you like. It knows what you listen to. It knows what you buy. It knows who’s in the room with you. And now, it might tell the police all about it. “It” is the Amazon Echo, a revolution in the “internet of… Read More
The Right to Remain Silent Does Not Extend to Computer/Phone Passwords
Recently the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that under certain circumstances, a court may compel a criminal defendant to provide the password to encrypted digital evidence without violating the defendant’s constitutional rights. This is an increasingly prevalent issue that has divided courts across the country and may be presented to the United States Supreme Court… Read More
‘Taking the Fifth’ Before Congress: A New Ethics Twist
It’s unethical for a prosecutor to put a witness on the stand in a criminal trial when he or she knows in advance that the witness is going to take the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify at all. Legal ethics authorities reason that the only effect of that kind of testimony is not to… Read More
Is the Second Circuit Ready to Recognize a Limited Fifth Amendment Privilege for One Person Corporations?
On Monday, November 30, 2009, oral argument will be held in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit before Justices Raggi, McLaughlin, and Walker in the matter of In re: Grand Jury Subpoena Account Services v. U.S. Attorney’s Office, No.: 09-3561-cv. This matter is being heard on appeal from the United States… Read More
