530 U.S.

428
120 S.Ct. 2326
147 L.Ed.2d 405

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before

publication in the preliminary print of the United States
Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of
Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D.
C. 20543, of any typographical or other formal errors, in order
that corrections may be made before the preliminary print goes
to press.
CHARLES THOMAS DICKERSON , PETITIONER
v.
UNITED STATES
No. 99-5525.

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

Argued April 19, 2000
Decided June 26, 2000

CERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
In the wake of Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, in which the Court held
that certain warnings must be given before a suspect's statement made
during custodial interrogation could be admitted in evidence, id., at 479,
Congress enacted 18 U.S.C. 3501 which in essence makes the
admissibility of such statements turn solely on whether they were made
voluntarily. Petitioner, under indictment for bank robbery and related
federal crimes, moved to suppress a statement he had made to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, on the ground he had not received "Miranda
warnings" before being interrogated. The District Court granted his
motion, and the Government took an interlocutory appeal. In reversing,
the Fourth Circuit acknowledged that petitioner had not received Miranda
warnings, but held that 3501 was satisfied because his statement was
voluntary. It concluded that Miranda was not a constitutional holding, and

that, therefore, Congress could by statute have the final say on the
admissibility question.
Held: Miranda and its progeny in this Court govern the admissibility of
statements made during custodial interrogation in both state and federal
courts. Pp. 2-14.
(a) Miranda, being a constitutional decision of this Court, may not be in
effect overruled by an Act of Congress. Given 3501's express designation
of voluntariness as the touchstone of admissibility, its omission of any
warning requirement, and its instruction for trial courts to consider the
totality of the circumstances surrounding the giving of the confession, this
Court agrees with the Fourth Circuit that Congress intended 3501 to
overrule Miranda. The law is clear as to whether Congress has
constitutional authority to do so. This Court has supervisory authority over
the federal courts to prescribe binding rules of evidence and procedure.
Carlisle v. United States, 517 U.S. 416, 426. While Congress has ultimate
authority to modify or set aside any such rules that are not constitutionally
required, e.g., Palermo v. United States, 360 U.S. 343, 345-348, it may not
supersede this Court's decisions interpreting and applying the
Constitution, see, e.g., City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 517-521.
That Miranda announced a constitutional rule is demonstrated, first and
foremost, by the fact that both Miranda and two of its companion cases
applied its rule to proceedings in state courts, and that the Court has
consistently done so ever since. See, e.g., Stansbury v. California, 511
U.S. 318 (per curiam). The Court does not hold supervisory power over
the state courts, e.g., Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 221, as to which its
authority is limited to enforcing the commands of the Constitution, e.g.,
Mu'Min v. Virginia, 500 U.S. 415, 422. The conclusion that Miranda is
constitutionally based is also supported by the fact that that case is replete
with statements indicating that the majority thought it was announcing a
constitutional rule, see, e.g., 384 U.S., at 445. Although Miranda invited
legislative action to protect the constitutional right against coerced selfincrimination, it stated that any legislative alternative must be "at least as
effective in appraising accused persons of their right of silence and in
assuring a continuous opportunity to exercise it." Id., at 467.
A contrary conclusion is not required by the fact that the Court has
subsequently made exceptions from the Miranda rule, see, e.g., New York
v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649. No constitutional rule is immutable, and the sort
of refinements made by such cases are merely a normal part of
constitutional law. Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 306-in which the
Court, in refusing to apply the traditional "fruits" doctrine developed in

Fourth Amendment cases, stated that Miranda's exclusionary rule serves

the Fifth Amendment and sweeps more broadly than that Amendment
itself-does not prove that Miranda is a nonconstitutional decision, but
simply recognizes the fact that unreasonable searches under the Fourth
Amendment are different from unwarned interrogation under the Fifth.
Finally, although the Court agrees with the court-appointed amicus curiae
that there are more remedies available for abusive police conduct than
there were when Miranda was decided-e.g., a suit under Bivens v. Six
Unknown Named Agents, 403 U.S. 388-it does not agree that such
additional measures supplement 3501's protections sufficiently to create
an adequate substitute for the Miranda warnings. Miranda requires
procedures that will warn a suspect in custody of his right to remain silent
and assure him that the exercise of that right will be honored, see, e.g., 384
U.S., at 467, while 3501 explicitly eschews a requirement of
preinterrogation warnings in favor of an approach that looks to the
administration of such warnings as only one factor in determining the
voluntariness of a suspect's confession. Section 3501, therefore, cannot be
sustained if Miranda is to remain the law. Pp. 2-12.
(b) This Court declines to overrule Miranda. Whether or not this Court
would agree with Miranda's reasoning and its rule in the first instance,
stare decisis weighs heavily against overruling it now. Even in
constitutional cases, stare decisis carries such persuasive force that the
Court has always required a departure from precedent to be supported by
some special justification. E.g., United States v. International Business
Machines Corp, 517 U.S. 843, 856. There is no such justification here.
Miranda has become embedded in routine police practice to the point
where the warnings have become part of our national culture. See Mitchell
v. United States, 526 U.S. 314, 331-332. While the Court has overruled its
precedents when subsequent cases have undermined their doctrinal
underpinnings, that has not happened to Miranda. If anything, subsequent
cases have reduced Miranda's impact on legitimate law enforcement while
reaffirming the decision's core ruling. The rule's disadvantage is that it
may result in a guilty defendant going free. But experience suggests that
3501's totality-of-the-circumstances test is more difficult than Miranda
for officers to conform to, and for courts to apply consistently. See, e.g.,
Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S. 503, 515. The requirement that Miranda
warnings be given does not dispense with the voluntariness inquiry, but
cases in which a defendant can make a colorable argument that a selfincriminating statement was compelled despite officers' adherence to
Miranda are rare. Pp. 12-14.
166 F.3d 667, reversed.

Rehnquist, C. J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Stevens,

O'Connor, Kennedy, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer, JJ., joined. Scalia, J.,
filed a dissenting opinion, in which Thomas, J., joined. Opinion of the
Court
Chief Justice Rehnquist delivered the opinion of the Court.

1 Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966), we held that certain warnings must be
In
given before a suspect's statement made during custodial interrogation could be
admitted in evidence. In the wake of that decision, Congress enacted 18 U.S.C.
3501 which in essence laid down a rule that the admissibility of such statements
should turn only on whether or not they were voluntarily made. We hold that
Miranda, being a constitutional decision of this Court, may not be in effect overruled
by an Act of Congress, and we decline to overrule Miranda ourselves. We therefore
hold that Miranda and its progeny in this Court govern the admissibility of
statements made during custodial interrogation in both state and federal courts.
2
Petitioner
Dickerson was indicted for bank robbery, conspiracy to commit bank
robbery, and using a firearm in the course of committing a crime of violence, all in
violation of the applicable provisions of Title 18 of the United States Code. Before
trial, Dickerson moved to suppress a statement he had made at a Federal Bureau of
Investigation field office, on the grounds that he had not received "Miranda
warnings" before being interrogated. The District Court granted his motion to
suppress, and the Government took an interlocutory appeal to the United States
Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. That court, by a divided vote, reversed the
District Court's suppression order. It agreed with the District Court's conclusion that
petitioner had not received Miranda warnings before making his statement. But it
went on to hold that 3501, which in effect makes the admissibility of statements
such as Dickerson's turn solely on whether they were made voluntarily, was satisfied
in this case. It then concluded that our decision in Miranda was not a constitutional
holding, and that therefore Congress could by statute have the final say on the
question of admissibility. 166 F.3d 667 (1999).
3
Because
of the importance of the questions raised by the Court of Appeals' decision,
we granted certiorari, 528 U.S. 1045 (1999), and now reverse.
4 begin with a brief historical account of the law governing the admission of
We
confessions. Prior to Miranda, we evaluated the admissibility of a suspect's
confession under a voluntariness test. The roots of this test developed in the common
law, as the courts of England and then the United States recognized that coerced
confessions are inherently untrustworthy. See, e.g., King v. Rudd, 1 Leach 115, 117118, 122-123, 168 Eng. Rep. 160, 161, 164 (K. B. 1783) (Lord Mansfield, C. J.)

(stating that the English courts excluded confessions obtained by threats and
promises); King v. Warickshall, 1 Leach 262, 263-264, 168 Eng. Rep. 234, 235 (K.
B. 1783) ("A free and voluntary confession is deserving of the highest credit,
because it is presumed to flow from the strongest sense of guilt - but a confession
forced from the mind by the flattery of hope, or by the torture of fear, comes in so
questionable a shape - that no credit ought to be given to it; and therefore it is
rejected"); King v. Parratt, 4 Car. & P. 570, 172 Eng. Rep. 829 (N. P. 1831); Queen
v. Garner, 1 Den. 329, 169 Eng. Rep. 267 (Ct. Crim. App. 1848); Queen v. Baldry, 2
Den. 430, 169 Eng. Rep. 568 (Ct. Crim. App. 1852); Hopt v. Territory of Utah, 110
U.S. 574 (1884); Pierce v. United States, 160 U.S. 355, 357 (1896). Over time, our
cases recognized two constitutional bases for the requirement that a confession be
voluntary to be admitted into evidence: the Fifth Amendment right against selfincrimination and the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. See, e.g.,
Bram v. United States, 168 U.S. 532, 542 (1897) (stating that the voluntariness test
"is controlled by that portion of the Fifth Amendment - commanding that no person
`shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself ' "); Brown
v. Mississippi, 297 U.S. 278 (1936) (reversing a criminal conviction under the Due
Process Clause because it was based on a confession obtained by physical coercion).
5
While
Bram was decided before Brown and its progeny, for the middle third of the
20th century our cases based the rule against admitting coerced confessions
primarily, if not exclusively, on notions of due process. We applied the due process
voluntariness test in "some 30 different cases decided during the era that intervened
between Brown and Escobedo v. Illinois, 378 U.S. 478 [(1964)]." Schneckcloth v.
Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 223 (1973). See, e.g., Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S.
503 (1963); Ashcraft v. Tennessee, 322 U.S. 143 (1944); Chambers v. Florida, 309
U.S. 227 (1940). Those cases refined the test into an inquiry that examines "whether
a defendant's will was overborne" by the circumstances surrounding the giving of a
confession. Schneckcloth, 412 U.S., at 226. The due process test takes into
consideration "the totality of all the surrounding circumstances-both the
characteristics of the accused and the details of the interrogation." Ibid. See also,
Haynes, supra, at 513; Gallegos v. Colorado, 370 U.S. 49, 55 (1962); Reck v. Pate,
367 U.S. 433, 440 (1961) ("[A]ll the circumstances attendant upon the confession
must be taken into account"); Malinski v. New York, 324 U.S. 401, 404 (1945) ("If
all the attendant circumstances indicate that the confession was coerced or
compelled, it may not be used to convict a defendant"). The determination
"depend[s] upon a weighing of the circumstances of pressure against the power of
resistance of the person confessing." Stein v. New York, 346 U.S. 156, 185 (1953).
6 have never abandoned this due process jurisprudence, and thus continue to
We
exclude confessions that were obtained involuntarily. But our decisions in Malloy v.
Hogan, 378 U.S. 1 (1964), and Miranda changed the focus of much of the inquiry in
determining the admissibility of suspects' incriminating statements. In Malloy, we

held that the Fifth Amendment's Self-Incrimination Clause is incorporated in the

Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and thus applies to the States. Id.,
at 6-11. We decided Miranda on the heels of Malloy.
7 Miranda, we noted that the advent of modern custodial police interrogation
In
brought with it an increased concern about confessions obtained by coercion.1 384
U.S., at 445-458. Because custodial police interrogation, by its very nature, isolates
and pressures the individual, we stated that "[e]ven without employing brutality, the
`third degree' or [other] specific stratagems, - custodial interrogation exacts a heavy
toll on individual liberty and trades on the weakness of individuals." Id., at 455. We
concluded that the coercion inherent in custodial interrogation blurs the line between
voluntary and involuntary statements, and thus heightens the risk that an individual
will not be "accorded his privilege under the Fifth Amendment - not to be compelled
to incriminate himself." Id., at 439. Accordingly, we laid down "concrete
constitutional guidelines for law enforcement agencies and courts to follow." Id., at
442. Those guidelines established that the admissibility in evidence of any statement
given during custodial interrogation of a suspect would depend on whether the
police provided the suspect with four warnings. These warnings (which have come
to be known colloquially as "Miranda rights") are: a suspect "has the right to remain
silent, that anything he says can be used against him in a court of law, that he has the
right to the presence of an attorney, and that if he cannot afford an attorney one will
be appointed for him prior to any questioning if he so desires." Id., at 479.
8
Two
years after Miranda was decided, Congress enacted 3501. That section
provides, in relevant part:
9 In any criminal prosecution brought by the United States or by the District of
"(a)
Columbia, a confession - shall be admissible in evidence if it is voluntarily given.
Before such confession is received in evidence, the trial judge shall, out of the
presence of the jury, determine any issue as to voluntariness. If the trial judge
determines that the confession was voluntarily made it shall be admitted in evidence
and the trial judge shall permit the jury to hear relevant evidence on the issue of
voluntariness and shall instruct the jury to give such weight to the confession as the
jury feels it deserves under all the circumstances.
10 The trial judge in determining the issue of voluntariness shall take into
"(b)
consideration all the circumstances surrounding the giving of the confession,
including (1) the time elapsing between arrest and arraignment of the defendant
making the confession, if it was made after arrest and before arraignment, (2)
whether such defendant knew the nature of the offense with which he was charged
or of which he was suspected at the time of making the confession, (3) whether or
not such defendant was advised or knew that he was not required to make any
statement and that any such statement could be used against him, (4) whether or not

such defendant had been advised prior to questioning of his right to the assistance of
counsel; and (5) whether or not such defendant was without the assistance of counsel
when questioned and when giving such confession.
11 presence or absence of any of the above-mentioned factors to be taken into
"The
consideration by the judge need not be conclusive on the issue of voluntariness of
the confession."
12
Given
3501's express designation of voluntariness as the touchstone of
admissibility, its omission of any warning requirement, and the instruction for trial
courts to consider a nonexclusive list of factors relevant to the circumstances of a
confession, we agree with the Court of Appeals that Congress intended by its
enactment to overrule Miranda. See also Davis v. United States, 512 U.S. 452, 464
(1994) (Scalia, J., concurring) (stating that, prior to Miranda, "voluntariness vel non
was the touchstone of admissibility of confessions"). Because of the obvious conflict
between our decision in Miranda and 3501, we must address whether Congress has
constitutional authority to thus supersede Miranda. If Congress has such authority,
3501's totality-of-the-circumstances approach must prevail over Miranda's
requirement of warnings; if not, that section must yield to Miranda's more specific
requirements.
13 law in this area is clear. This Court has supervisory authority over the federal
The
courts, and we may use that authority to prescribe rules of evidence and procedure
that are binding in those tribunals. Carlisle v. United States, 517 U.S. 416, 426
(1996). However, the power to judicially create and enforce nonconstitutional "rules
of procedure and evidence for the federal courts exists only in the absence of a
relevant Act of Congress." Palermo v. United States, 360 U.S. 343, 353, n. 11 (1959)
(citing Funk v. United States, 290 U.S. 371, 382 (1933), and Gordon v. United
States, 344 U.S. 414, 418 (1953)). Congress retains the ultimate authority to modify
or set aside any judicially created rules of evidence and procedure that are not
required by the Constitution. Palermo, supra, at 345-348; Carlisle, supra, at 426;
Vance v. Terrazas, 444 U.S. 252, 265 (1980).
14 Congress may not legislatively supersede our decisions interpreting and
But
applying the Constitution. See, e.g., City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 517-521
(1997). This case therefore turns on whether the Miranda Court announced a
constitutional rule or merely exercised its supervisory authority to regulate evidence
in the absence of congressional direction. Recognizing this point, the Court of
Appeals surveyed Miranda and its progeny to determine the constitutional status of
the Miranda decision. 166 F.3d, at 687-692. Relying on the fact that we have created
several exceptions to Miranda's warnings requirement and that we have repeatedly
referred to the Miranda warnings as "prophylactic," New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S.
649, 653 (1984), and "not themselves rights protected by the Constitution,"

Michigan v. Tucker, 417 U.S. 433, 444 (1974),2 the Court of Appeals concluded that
the protections announced in Miranda are not constitutionally required. 166 F.3d, at
687-690.
15 disagree with the Court of Appeals' conclusion, although we concede that there
We
is language in some of our opinions that supports the view taken by that court. But
first and foremost of the factors on the other side-that Miranda is a constitutional
decision-is that both Miranda and two of its companion cases applied the rule to
proceedings in state courts-to wit, Arizona, California, and New York. See 384 U.S.,
at 491-494, 497-499. Since that time, we have consistently applied Miranda's rule to
prosecutions arising in state courts. See, e.g., Stansbury v. California, 511 U.S. 318
(1994) (per curiam); Minnick v. Mississippi, 498 U.S. 146 (1990); Arizona v.
Roberson, 486 U.S. 675 (1988); Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 481-482 (1981).
It is beyond dispute that we do not hold a supervisory power over the courts of the
several States. Smith v. Phillips, 455 U.S. 209, 221 (1982) ("Federal courts hold no
supervisory authority over state judicial proceedings and may intervene only to
correct wrongs of constitutional dimension"); Cicenia v. Lagay, 357 U. S 504, 508509 (1958). With respect to proceedings in state courts, our "authority is limited to
enforcing the commands of the United States Constitution." Mu'Min v. Virginia, 500
U.S. 415, 422 (1991). See also Harris v. Rivera, 454 U.S. 339, 344-345 (1981) (per
curiam) (stating that "[f]ederal judges may not require the observance of any special
procedures" in state courts "except when necessary to assure compliance with the
dictates of the Federal Constitution"). 3
16 Miranda opinion itself begins by stating that the Court granted certiorari "to
The
explore some facets of the problems - of applying the privilege against selfincrimination to in-custody interrogation, and to give concrete constitutional
guidelines for law enforcement agencies and courts to follow." 384 U.S., at 441-442
(emphasis added). In fact, the majority opinion is replete with statements indicating
that the majority thought it was announcing a constitutional rule.4 Indeed, the
Court's ultimate conclusion was that the unwarned confessions obtained in the four
cases before the Court in Miranda "were obtained from the defendant under
circumstances that did not meet constitutional standards for protection of the
privilege."5 Id., at 491.
17
Additional
support for our conclusion that Miranda is constitutionally based is found
in the Miranda Court's invitation for legislative action to protect the constitutional
right against coerced self-incrimination. After discussing the "compelling pressures"
inherent in custodial police interrogation, the Miranda Court concluded that, "[i]n
order to combat these pressures and to permit a full opportunity to exercise the
privilege against self-incrimination, the accused must be adequately and effectively
appraised of his rights and the exercise of those rights must be fully honored." Id., at
467. However, the Court emphasized that it could not foresee "the potential

alternatives for protecting the privilege which might be devised by Congress or the
States," and it accordingly opined that the Constitution would not preclude
legislative solutions that differed from the prescribed Miranda warnings but which
were "at least as effective in apprising accused persons of their right of silence and in
assuring a continuous opportunity to exercise it."6 Ibid.
18 Court of Appeals also relied on the fact that we have, after our Miranda
The
decision, made exceptions from its rule in cases such as New York v. Quarles, 467
U.S. 649 (1984), and Harris v. New York, 401 U.S. 222 (1971). See 166 F.3d, at
672, 689-691. But we have also broadened the application of the Miranda doctrine in
cases such as Doyle v. Ohio, 426 U.S. 610 (1976), and Arizona v. Roberson, 486
U.S. 675 (1988). These decisions illustrate the principle-not that Miranda is not a
constitutional rule-but that no constitutional rule is immutable. No court laying
down a general rule can possibly foresee the various circumstances in which counsel
will seek to apply it, and the sort of modifications represented by these cases are as
much a normal part of constitutional law as the original decision.
19 Court of Appeals also noted that in Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298 (1985), we
The
stated that " `[t]he Miranda exclusionary rule - serves the Fifth Amendment and
sweeps more broadly than the Fifth Amendment itself.' " 166 F.3d, at 690 (quoting
Elstad, supra, at 306). Our decision in that case-refusing to apply the traditional
"fruits" doctrine developed in Fourth Amendment cases-does not prove that Miranda
is a nonconstitutional decision, but simply recognizes the fact that unreasonable
searches under the Fourth Amendment are different from unwarned interrogation
under the Fifth Amendment.
20 an alternative argument for sustaining the Court of Appeals' decision, the courtAs
invited amicus curiae7 contends that the section complies with the requirement that a
legislative alternative to Miranda be equally as effective in preventing coerced
confessions. See Brief for Paul G. Cassell as Amicus Curiae 28-39. We agree with
the amicus' contention that there are more remedies available for abusive police
conduct than there were at the time Miranda was decided, see, e.g., Wilkins v. May,
872 F.2d 190, 194 (CA7 1989) (applying Bivens v. Six Unknown Fed. Narcotics
Agents, 403 U.S. 388 (1971), to hold that a suspect may bring a federal cause of
action under the Due Process Clause for police misconduct during custodial
interrogation). But we do not agree that these additional measures supplement
3501's protections sufficiently to meet the constitutional minimum. Miranda
requires procedures that will warn a suspect in custody of his right to remain silent
and which will assure the suspect that the exercise of that right will be honored. See,
e.g., 384 U.S., at 467. As discussed above, 3501 explicitly eschews a requirement
of pre-interrogation warnings in favor of an approach that looks to the
administration of such warnings as only one factor in determining the voluntariness
of a suspect's confession. The additional remedies cited by amicus do not, in our

view, render them, together with 3501 an adequate substitute for the warnings
required by Miranda.
The
21 dissent argues that it is judicial overreaching for this Court to hold 3501
unconstitutional unless we hold that the Miranda warnings are required by the
Constitution, in the sense that nothing else will suffice to satisfy constitutional
requirements. Post, at 10-11, 22-23. But we need not go farther than Miranda to
decide this case. In Miranda, the Court noted that reliance on the traditional totalityof-the-circumstances test raised a risk of overlooking an involuntary custodial
confession, 384 U. S, at 457, a risk that the Court found unacceptably great when the
confession is offered in the case in chief to prove guilt. The Court therefore
concluded that something more than the totality test was necessary. See ibid.; see
also id., at 467, 490-491. As discussed above, 3501 reinstates the totality test as
sufficient. Section 3501 therefore cannot be sustained if Miranda is to remain the
law.
22
Whether
or not we would agree with Miranda's reasoning and its resulting rule, were
we addressing the issue in the first instance, the principles of stare decisis weigh
heavily against overruling it now. See, e.g., Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U.S. 291, 304
(1980) (Burger, C. J., concurring in judgment) ("The meaning of Miranda has
become reasonably clear and law enforcement practices have adjusted to its
strictures; I would neither overrule Miranda, disparage it, nor extend it at this late
date"). While " `stare decisis is not an inexorable command,' " State Oil Co. v. Khan,
522 U.S. 3, 20 (1997) (quoting Payne v. Tennessee, 501 U.S. 808, 828 (1991)),
particularly when we are interpreting the Constitution, Agostini v. Felton, 521 U.S.
203, 235 (1997), "even in constitutional cases, the doctrine carries such persuasive
force that we have always required a departure from precedent to be supported by
some `special justification.' " United States v. International Business Machines
Corp., 517 U.S. 843, 856 (1996) (quoting Payne, supra, at 842 (Souter, J.,
concurring) (in turn quoting Arizona v. Rumsey, 467 U.S. 203, 212 (1984))).
23 do not think there is such justification for overruling Miranda. Miranda has
We
become embedded in routine police practice to the point where the warnings have
become part of our national culture. See Mitchell v. United States, 526 U.S. 314,
331-332 (1999) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (stating that the fact that a rule has found "
`wide acceptance in the legal culture' " is "adequate reason not to overrule" it). While
we have overruled our precedents when subsequent cases have undermined their
doctrinal underpinnings, see, e.g., Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U.S. 164,
173 (1989), we do not believe that this has happened to the Miranda decision. 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.

24 disadvantage of the Miranda rule is that statements which may be by no means

The
involuntary, made by a defendant who is aware of his "rights," may nonetheless be
excluded and a guilty defendant go free as a result. But experience suggests that the
totality-of-the-circumstances test which 3501 seeks to revive is more difficult than
Miranda for law enforcement officers to conform to, and for courts to apply in a
consistent manner. See, e.g., Haynes v. Washington, 373 U.S., at 515 ("The line
between proper and permissible police conduct and techniques and methods
offensive to due process is, at best, a difficult one to draw"). The requirement that
Miranda warnings be given does not, of course, dispense with the voluntariness
inquiry. But as we said in Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U.S. 420 (1984), "[c]ases in
which a defendant can make a colorable argument that a self-incriminating statement
was `compelled' despite the fact that the law enforcement authorities adhered to the
dictates of Miranda are rare." Id., at 433, n. 20.
25 sum, we conclude that Miranda announced a constitutional rule that Congress
In
may not supersede legislatively. Following the rule of stare decisis, we decline to
overrule Miranda ourselves.8 The judgment of the Court of Appeals is therefore
Reversed.
26

Notes
1

While our cases have long interpreted the Due Process and Self-Incrimination
Clauses to require that a suspect be accorded a fair trial free from coerced
testimony, our application of those Clauses to the context of custodial police
interrogation is relatively recent because the routine practice of such
interrogation is itself a relatively new development. See, e.g., Miranda, 384
U.S., at 445-458.

See also Davis v. United States, 512 U. S 452, 457-458 (1994); Withrow v.
Williams, 507 U.S. 680, 690-691 (1993) ("Miranda's safeguards are not
constitutional in character"); Duckworth v. Eagan, 492 U.S. 195, 203 (1989);
Connecticut v. Barrett, 479 U.S. 523, 528 (1987) ("[T]he Miranda Court
adopted prophylactic rules designed to insulate the exercise of Fifth
Amendment rights"); Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298, 306 (1985); Edwards v.
Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 492 (1981) (Powell, J., concurring in result).

Our conclusion regarding Miranda's constitutional basis is further buttressed by

the fact that we have allowed prisoners to bring alleged Miranda violations
before the federal courts in habeas corpus proceedings. See Thompson v.
Keohane, 516 U.S. 99 (1995); Withrow, supra, at 690-695. Habeas corpus
proceedings are available only for claims that a person "is in custody in

violation of the Constitution or laws or treaties of the United States." 28 U.S.C.

2254(a). Since the Miranda rule is clearly not based on federal laws or
treaties, our decision allowing habeas review for Miranda claims obviously
assumes that Miranda is of constitutional origin.
4

See 384 U.S., at 445 ("The constitutional issue we decide in each of these cases
is the admissibility of statements obtained from a defendant questioned while in
custody"), 457 (stating that the Miranda Court was concerned with "adequate
safeguards to protect precious Fifth Amendment rights"), 458 (examining the
"history and precedent underlying the Self-Incrimination Clause to determine
its applicability in this situation"), 476 ("The requirement of warnings and
waiver of rights is - fundamental with respect to the Fifth Amendment privilege
and not simply a preliminary ritual to existing methods of interrogation"), 479
("The whole thrust of our foregoing discussion demonstrates that the
Constitution has prescribed the rights of the individual when confronted with
the power of government when it provided in the Fifth Amendment that an
individual cannot be compelled to be a witness against himself"), 481, n. 52
(stating that the Court dealt with "constitutional standards in relation to
statements made"), 490 ("[T]he issues presented are of constitutional
dimensions and must be determined by the courts"), 489 (stating that the
Miranda Court was dealing "with rights grounded in a specific requirement of
the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution").

Many of our subsequent cases have also referred to Miranda's constitutional

underpinnings. See, e.g., Withrow, 507 U.S., at 691 (" `Prophylactic' though it
may be, in protecting a defendant's Fifth Amendment privilege against selfincrimination, Miranda safeguards a `fundamental trial right' "); Illinois v.
Perkins, 496 U.S. 292, 296 (1990) (describing Miranda's warning requirement
as resting on "the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination");
Butler v. McKellar, 494 U.S. 407, 411 (1990) ("[T]he Fifth Amendment bars
police-initiated interrogation following a suspect's request for counsel in the
context of a separate investigation"); Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625, 629
(1986) ("The Fifth Amendment protection against compelled self-incrimination
provides the right to counsel at custodial interrogations"); Moran v. Burbine,
475 U.S. 412, 427 (1986) (referring to Miranda as "our interpretation of the
Federal Constitution"); Edwards, 451 U.S., at 481-482.

The Court of Appeals relied in part on our statement that the Miranda decision
in no way "creates a `constitutional straightjacket.' " See 166 F.3d, at 672
(quoting Miranda, 384 U.S., at 467). However, a review of our opinion in
Miranda clarifies that this disclaimer was intended to indicate that the
Constitution does not require police to administer the particular Miranda
warnings, not that the Constitution does not require a procedure that is effective

in securing Fifth Amendment rights.

7

Because no party to the underlying litigation argued in favor of 3501's

constitutionality in this Court, we invited Professor Paul Cassell to assist our
deliberations by arguing in support of the judgment below.

Various other contentions and suggestions have been pressed by the numerous
amici, but because of the procedural posture of this case we do not think it
appropriate to consider them. See United Parcel Service, Inc. v. Mitchell, 451
U.S. 56, 60, n. 2 (1981); Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 531-532, n. 13 (1979);
Knetsch v. United States, 364 U.S. 361, 370 (1960).

Scalia, J., dissenting

Justice Scalia, with whom Justice Thomas joins, dissenting.
27
28
Those
to whom judicial decisions are an unconnected series of judgments that
produce either favored or disfavored results will doubtless greet today's decision as a
paragon of moderation, since it declines to overrule Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S.
436 (1966). Those who understand the judicial process will appreciate that today's
decision is not a reaffirmation of Miranda, but a radical revision of the most
significant element of Miranda (as of all cases): the rationale that gives it a
permanent place in our jurisprudence.
29
Marbury
v. Madison, 1 Cranch 137 (1803), held that an Act of Congress will not be
enforced by the courts if what it prescribes violates the Constitution of the United
States. That was the basis on which Miranda was decided. One will search today's
opinion in vain, however, for a statement (surely simple enough to make) that what
18 U.S.C. 3501 prescribes-the use at trial of a voluntary confession, even when a
Miranda warning or its equivalent has failed to be given-violates the Constitution.
The reason the statement does not appear is not only (and perhaps not so much) that
it would be absurd, inasmuch as 3501 excludes from trial precisely what the
Constitution excludes from trial, viz., compelled confessions; but also that Justices
whose votes are needed to compose today's majority are on record as believing that
a violation of Miranda is not a violation of the Constitution. See Davis v. United
States, 512 U.S. 452, 457-458 (1994) (opinion of the Court, in which Kennedy, J.,
joined); Duckworth v. Eagan, 492 U.S. 195, 203 (1989) (opinion of the Court, in
which Kennedy, J., joined); Oregon v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298 (1985) (opinion of the
Court by O'Connor, J.); New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649 (1984) (opinion of the
Court by Rehnquist, J.). And so, to justify today's agreed-upon result, the Court must
adopt a significant new, if not entirely comprehensible, principle of constitutional
law. As the Court chooses to describe that principle, statutes of Congress can be
disregarded, not only when what they prescribe violates the Constitution, but when
what they prescribe contradicts a decision of this Court that "announced a

constitutional rule," ante, at 7. As I shall discuss in some detail, the only thing that
can possibly mean in the context of this case is that this Court has the power, not
merely to apply the Constitution but to expand it, imposing what it regards as useful
"prophylactic" restrictions upon Congress and the States. That is an immense and
frightening antidemocratic power, and it does not exist.
30takes only a small step to bring today's opinion out of the realm of power-judging
It
and into the mainstream of legal reasoning: The Court need only go beyond its
carefully couched iterations that "Miranda is a constitutional decision," ante, at 8,
that "Miranda is constitutionally based," ante, at 10, that Miranda has "constitutional
underpinnings," ante, at 10, n. 5, and come out and say quite clearly: "We reaffirm
today that custodial interrogation that is not preceded by Miranda warnings or their
equivalent violates the Constitution of the United States." It cannot say that, because
a majority of the Court does not believe it. The Court therefore acts in plain violation
of the Constitution when it denies effect to this Act of Congress.
*31Early in this Nation's history, this Court established the sound proposition that
constitutional government in a system of separated powers requires judges to regard
as inoperative any legislative act, even of Congress itself, that is "repugnant to the
Constitution."
32 if a law be in opposition to the constitution; if both the law and the constitution
"So
apply to a particular case, so that the court must either decide that case conformably
to the law, disregarding the constitution; or conformably to the constitution,
disregarding the law; the court must determine which of these conflicting rules
governs the case." Marbury, supra, at 178.
33 power we recognized in Marbury will thus permit us, indeed require us, to
The
"disregar[d]" 3501, a duly enacted statute governing the admissibility of evidence
in the federal courts, only if it "be in opposition to the constitution"-here, assertedly,
the dictates of the Fifth Amendment.
34was once possible to characterize the so-called Miranda rule as resting (however
It
implausibly) upon the proposition that what the statute here before us permits- the
admission at trial of un-Mirandized confessions- violates the Constitution. That is
the fairest reading of the Miranda case itself. The Court began by announcing that
the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination applied in the context of
extrajudicial custodial interrogation, see 384 U.S., at 460-467-itself a doubtful
proposition as a matter both of history and precedent, see id., at, at 510-511 (Harlan,
J., dissenting) (characterizing the Court's conclusion that the Fifth Amendment
privilege, rather than the Due Process Clause, governed stationhouse confessions as
a "trompe l'oeil"). Having extended the privilege into the confines of the station
house, the Court liberally sprinkled throughout its sprawling 60-page opinion

suggestions that, because of the compulsion inherent in custodial interrogation, the

privilege was violated by any statement thus obtained that did not conform to the
rules set forth in Miranda, or some functional equivalent. See id., at 458 ("Unless
adequate protective devices are employed to dispel the compulsion inherent in
custodial surroundings, no statement obtained from the defendant can truly be the
product of his free choice") (emphases added); id., at 461 ("An individual swept
from familiar surroundings into police custody, surrounded by antagonistic forces,
and subjected to the techniques of persuasion described above cannot be otherwise
than under compulsion to speak"); id., at 467 ("We have concluded that without
proper safeguards the process of in-custody interrogation - contains inherently
compelling pressures which work to undermine the individual's will to resist and to
compel him to speak where he would not otherwise do so freely"); id., 457, n. 26
(noting the "absurdity of denying that a confession obtained under these
circumstances is compelled").
35 dissenters, for their part, also understood Miranda's holding to be based on the
The
"premise - that pressure on the suspect must be eliminated though it be only the
subtle influence of the atmosphere and surroundings." Id., at 512 (Harlan, J.,
dissenting). See also id., at 535 (White, J., dissenting) ("[I]t has never been
suggested, until today, that such questioning was so coercive and accused persons so
lacking in hardihood that the very first response to the very first question following
the commencement of custody must be conclusively presumed to be the product of
an overborne will"). And at least one case decided shortly after Miranda explicitly
confirmed
36 view. See Orozco v. Texas, 394 U.S. 324, 326 (1969) ("[T]he use of these
the
admissions obtained in the absence of the required warnings was a flat violation of
the Self-Incrimination Clause of the Fifth Amendment as construed in Miranda").
37 understood, Miranda was objectionable for innumerable reasons, not least the
So
fact that cases spanning more than 70 years had rejected its core premise that, absent
the warnings and an effective waiver of the right to remain silent and of the
(thitherto unknown) right to have an attorney present, a statement obtained pursuant
to custodial interrogation was necessarily the product of compulsion. See Crooker v.
California, 357 U.S. 433 (1958) (confession not involuntary despite denial of access
to counsel); Cicenia v. Lagay, 357 U.S. 504 (1958) (same); Powers v. United States,
223 U.S. 303 (1912) (lack of warnings and counsel did not render statement before
United States Commisioner involuntary); Wilson v. United States, 162 U.S. 613
(1896) (same). Moreover, history and precedent aside, the decision in Miranda, if
read as an explication of what the Constitution requires, is preposterous. There is,
for example, simply no basis in reason for concluding that a response to the very
first question asked, by a suspect who already knows all of the rights described in
the Miranda warning, is anything other than a volitional act. See Miranda, supra, at

533-534 (White, J., dissenting). And even if one assumes that the elimination of
compulsion absolutely requires informing even the most knowledgeable suspect of
his right to remain silent, it cannot conceivably require the right to have counsel
present. There is a world of difference, which the Court recognized under the
traditional voluntariness test but ignored in Miranda, between compelling a suspect
to incriminate himself and preventing him from foolishly doing so of his own
accord. Only the latter (which is not required by the Constitution) could explain the
Court's inclusion of a right to counsel and the requirement that it, too, be knowingly
and intelligently waived. Counsel's presence is not required to tell the suspect that he
need not speak; the interrogators can do that. The only good reason for having
counsel there is that he can be counted on to advise the suspect that he should not
speak. See Watts v. Indiana, 338 U.S. 49, 59 (1949) (Jackson, J., concurring in result
in part and dissenting in part) ("[A]ny lawyer worth his salt will tell the suspect in no
uncer- tain terms to make no statement to police under any circumstances").
38
Preventing
foolish (rather than compelled) confessions is likewise the only
conceivable basis for the rules (suggested in Miranda, see 384 U.S., at 444-445, 473474), that courts must exclude any confession elicited by questioning conducted,
without interruption, after the suspect has indicated a desire to stand on his right to
remain silent, see Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U.S. 96, 105-106 (1975), or initiated by
police after the suspect has expressed a desire to have counsel present, see Edwards
v. Arizona, 451 U.S. 477, 484-485 (1981). Nonthreatening attempts to persuade the
suspect to reconsider that initial decision are not, without more, enough to render a
change of heart the product of anything other than the suspect's free will. Thus, what
is most remarkable about the Miranda decision-and what made it unacceptable as a
matter of straightforward constitutional interpretation in the Marbury tradition-is its
palpable hostility toward the act of confession per se, rather than toward what the
Constitution abhors, compelled confession. See United States v. Washington, 431
U.S. 181, 187 (1977) ("[F]ar from being prohibited by the Constitution, admissions
of guilt by wrongdoers, if not coerced, are inherently desirable"). The Constitution is
not, unlike the Miranda majority, offended by a criminal's commendable qualm of
conscience or fortunate fit of stupidity. Cf. Minnick v. Mississippi, 498 U.S. 146,
166-167 (1990) (Scalia, J., dissenting).
39 these reasons, and others more than adequately developed in the Miranda
For
dissents and in the subsequent works of the decision's many critics, any conclusion
that a violation of the Miranda rules necessarily amounts to a violation of the
privilege against compelled self-incrimination can claim no support in history,
precedent, or common sense, and as a result would at least presumptively be worth
reconsidering even at this late date. But that is unnecessary, since the Court has
(thankfully) long since abandoned the notion that failure to comply with Miranda's
rules is itself a violation of the Constitution.

II
40 the Court today acknowledges, since Miranda we have explicitly, and repeatedly,
As
interpreted that decision as having announced, not the circumstances in which
custodial interrogation runs afoul of the Fifth or Fourteenth Amendment, but rather
only "prophylactic" rules that go beyond the right against compelled selfincrimination. Of course the seeds of this "prophylactic" interpretation of Miranda
were present in the decision itself. See Miranda, supra, at 439 (discussing the
"necessity for procedures which assure that the [suspect] is accorded his privilege");
id., at 447 ("[u]nless a proper limitation upon custodial interrogation is achievedsuch as these decisions will advance-there can be no assurance that practices of this
nature will be eradicated"); id., at 457 ("[i]n these cases, we might not find the
defendants' statements to have been involuntary in traditional terms"); ibid. (noting
"concern for adequate safeguards to protect precious Fifth Amendment rights" and
the "potentiality for compulsion" in Ernesto Miranda's interrogation). In subsequent
cases, the seeds have sprouted and borne fruit: The Court has squarely concluded
that it is possible-indeed not uncommon-for the police to violate Miranda without
also violating the Constitution.
41
Michigan
v. Tucker, 417 U.S. 433 (1974), an opinion for the Court written by thenJustice Rehnquist, rejected the true-to-Marbury, failure-to-warn-as-constitutionalviolation interpretation of Miranda. It held that exclusion of the "fruits" of a Miranda
violation-the statement of a witness whose identity the defendant had revealed while
in custody-was not required. The opinion explained that the question whether the
"police conduct complained of directly infringed upon respondent's right against
compulsory self-incrimination" was a "separate question" from "whether it instead
violated only the prophylactic rules developed to protect that right." Id., at 439. The
"procedural safeguards" adopted in Miranda, the Court said, "were not themselves
rights protected by the Constitution but were instead measures to insure that the right
against compulsory self-incrimination was protected," and to "provide practical
reinforcement for the right," id., at 444. Comparing the particular facts of the
custodial interrogation with the "historical circumstances underlying the privilege,"
ibid., the Court concluded, unequivocally, that the defendant's statement could not
be termed "involuntary as that term has been defined in the decisions of this Court,"
id., at 445, and thus that there had been no constitutional violation, notwithstanding
the clear violation of the "procedural rules later established in Miranda," ibid. Lest
there be any confusion on the point, the Court reiterated that the "police conduct at
issue here did not abridge respondent's constitutional privilege against compulsory
self-incrimination, but departed only from the prophylactic standards later laid down
by this Court in Miranda to safeguard that privilege." Id., at 446. It is clear from our
cases, of course, that if the statement in Tucker had been obtained in violation of the
Fifth Amendment, the statement and its fruits would have been excluded. See Nix v.
Williams, 467 U.S. 431, 442 (1984).

42 next year, in Oregon v. Hass, 420 U.S. 714 (1975), the Court held that a
The
defendant's statement taken in violation of Miranda that was nonetheless voluntary
could be used at trial for impeachment purposes. This holding turned upon the
recognition that violation of Miranda is not unconstitutional compulsion, since
statements obtained in actual violation of the privilege against compelled selfincrimination, "as opposed to - taken in violation of Miranda," quite simply "may not
be put to any testimonial use whatever against [the defendant] in a criminal trial,"
including as impeachment evidence. New Jersey v. Portash, 440 U.S. 450, 459
(1979). See also Mincey v. Arizona, 437 U.S. 385, 397-398 (1978) (holding that
while statements obtained in violation of Miranda may be used for impeachment if
otherwise trustworthy, the Constitution prohibits "any criminal trial use against a
defendant of his involuntary statement").
43
Nearly
a decade later, in New York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649 (1984), the Court relied
upon the fact that "[t]he prophylactic Miranda warnings - are `not themselves rights
protected by the Constitution,' " id., at 654 (quoting Tucker, supra, at 444), to create
a "public safety" exception. In that case, police apprehended, after a chase in a
grocery store, a rape suspect known to be carrying a gun. After handcuffing and
searching him (and finding no gun)-but before reading him his Miranda warningsthe police demanded to know where the gun was. The defendant nodded in the
direction of some empty cartons and responded that "the gun is over there." The
Court held that both the unwarned statement-"the gun is over there"-and the
recovered weapon were admissible in the prosecution's case in chief under a "public
safety exception" to the "prophylactic rules enunciated in Miranda." 467 U.S., at
653. It explicitly acknowledged that if the Miranda warnings were an imperative of
the Fifth Amendment itself, such an exigency exception would be impossible, since
the Fifth Amendment's bar on compelled self-incrimination is absolute, and its "
`strictures, unlike the Fourth's are not removed by showing reasonableness,' " 467
U.S., at 653, n. 3. (For the latter reason, the Court found it necessary to note that
respondent did not "claim that [his] statements were actually compelled by police
conduct which overcame his will to resist," id., at 654.)
44 next year, the Court again declined to apply the "fruit of the poisonous tree"
The
doctrine to a Miranda violation, this time allowing the admission of a suspect's
properly warned statement even though it had been preceded (and, arguably,
induced) by an earlier inculpatory statement taken in violation of Miranda. Oregon
v. Elstad, 470 U.S. 298 (1985). As in Tucker, the Court distinguished the case from
those holding that a confession obtained as a result of an unconstitutional search is
inadmissible, on the ground that the violation of Miranda does not involve an "actual
infringement of the suspect's constitutional rights," 470 U.S., at 308. Miranda, the
Court explained, "sweeps more broadly than the Fifth Amendment itself," and
"Miranda's preventive medicine provides a remedy even to the defendant who has
suffered no identifiable constitutional harm." 470 U.S., at 307. "[E]rrors [that] are

made by law enforcement officers in administering the prophylactic Miranda

procedures - should not breed the same irremediable consequences as police
infringement of the Fifth Amendment itself." Id., at 308-309.
45 light of these cases, and our statements to the same effect in others, see, e.g.,
In
Davis v. United States, 512 U.S., at 457-458; Withrow v. Williams, 507 U.S. 680,
690-691 (1993); Eagan, 492 U.S., at 203, it is simply no longer possible for the
Court to conclude, even if it wanted to, that a violation of Miranda's rules is a
violation of the Constitution. But as I explained at the outset, that is what is required
before the Court may disregard a law of Congress governing the admissibility of
evidence in federal court. The Court today insists that the decision in Miranda is a
"constitutional" one, ante, at 1, 8; that it has "constitutional underpinnings", ante, at
10, n. 5; a "constitutional basis" and a "constitutional origin", ante, at 9, n. 3; that it
was "constitutionally based", ante, at 10; and that it announced a "constitutional
rule," ante, at 7, 9, 11, 14. It is fine to play these word games; but what makes a
decision "constitutional" in the only sense relevant here-in the sense that renders it
impervious to supersession by congressional legislation such as 3501-is the
determination that the Constitution requires the result that the decision announces
and the statute ignores. By disregarding congressional action that concededly does
not violate the Constitution, the Court flagrantly offends fundamental principles of
separation of powers, and arrogates to itself prerogatives reserved to the
representatives of the people.
46 Court seeks to avoid this conclusion in two ways: First, by misdescribing these
The
post-Miranda cases as mere dicta. The Court concedes only "that there is language in
some of our opinions that supports the view" that Miranda's protections are not
"constitutionally required." Ante, at 8. It is not a matter of language; it is a matter of
holdings. The proposition that failure to comply with Miranda's rules does not
establish a constitutional violation was central to the holdings of Tucker, Hass,
Quarles, and Elstad.
47 second way the Court seeks to avoid the impact of these cases is simply to
The
disclaim responsibility for reasoned decisionmaking. It says:
48
"These
decisions illustrate the principle-not that Miranda is not a constitutional rulebut that no constitutional rule is immutable. No court laying down a general rule can
possibly foresee the various circumstances in which counsel will seek to apply it,
and the sort of modifications represented by these cases are as much a normal part of
constitutional law as the original decision." Ante, at 11.
49 issue, however, is not whether court rules are "mutable"; they assuredly are. It
The
is not whether, in the light of "various circumstances," they can be "modifi[ed]";
they assuredly can. The issue is whether, as mutated and modified, they must make

sense. The requirement that they do so is the only thing that prevents this Court from
being some sort of nine-headed Caesar, giving thumbs-up or thumbs-down to
whatever outcome, case by case, suits or offends its collective fancy. And if
confessions procured in violation of Miranda are confessions "compelled" in
violation of the Constitution, the post-Miranda decisions I have discussed do not
make sense. The only reasoned basis for their outcome was that a violation of
Miranda is not a violation of the Constitution. If, for example, as the Court
acknowledges was the holding of Elstad, "the traditional `fruits' doctrine developed
in Fourth Amendment cases" (that the fruits of evidence obtained unconstitutionally
must be excluded from trial) does not apply to the fruits of Miranda violations, ante,
at 11; and if the reason for the difference is not that Miranda violations are not
constitutional violations (which is plainly and flatly what Elstad said); then the
Court must come up with some other explanation for the difference. (That will take
quite a bit of doing, by the way, since it is not clear on the face of the Fourth
Amendment that evidence obtained in violation of that guarantee must be excluded
from trial, whereas it is clear on the face of the Fifth Amendment that
unconstitutionally compelled confessions cannot be used.) To say simply that
"unreasonable searches under the Fourth Amendment are different from unwarned
interrogation under the Fifth Amendment," ante, at 11-12, is true but supremely
unhelpful.
50
Finally,
the Court asserts that Miranda must be a "constitutional decision"
announcing a "constitutional rule," and thus immune to congressional modification,
because we have since its inception applied it to the States. If this argument is meant
as an invocation of stare decisis, it fails because, though it is true that our cases
applying Miranda against the States must be reconsidered if Miranda is not required
by the Constitution, it is likewise true that our cases (discussed above) based on the
principle that Miranda is not required by the Constitution will have to be
reconsidered if it is. So the stare decisis argument is a wash. If, on the other hand,
the argument is meant as an appeal to logic rather than stare decisis, it is a classic
example of begging the question: Congress's attempt to set aside Miranda, since it
represents an assertion that violation of Miranda is not a violation of the
Constitution, also represents an assertion that the Court has no power to impose
Miranda on the States. To answer this assertion-not by showing why violation of
Miranda is a violation of the Constitution-but by asserting that Miranda does apply
against the States, is to assume precisely the point at issue. In my view, our
continued application of the Miranda code to the States despite our consistent
statements that running afoul of its dictates does not necessarily-or even usuallyresult in an actual constitutional violation, represents not the source of Miranda's
salvation but rather evidence of its ultimate illegitimacy. See generally J. Grano,
Confessions, Truth, and the Law 173-198 (1993); Grano, Prophylactic Rules in
Criminal Procedure: A Question of Article III Legitimacy, 80 Nw. U. L. Rev. 100
(1985). As Justice Stevens has elsewhere explained, "[t]his Court's power to require

state courts to exclude probative self-incriminatory statements rests entirely on the

premise that the use of such evidence violates the Federal Constitution. - If the Court
does not accept that premise, it must regard the holding in the Miranda case itself, as
well as all of the federal jurisprudence that has evolved from that decision, as
nothing more than an illegitimate exercise of raw judicial power." Elstad, 470 U.S.,
at 370 (dissenting opinion). Quite so.
III
51
There
was available to the Court a means of reconciling the established proposition
that a violation of Miranda does not itself offend the Fifth Amendment with the
Court's assertion of a right to ignore the present statute. That means of reconciliation
was argued strenuously by both petitioner and the United States, who were evidently
more concerned than the Court is with maintaining the coherence of our
jurisprudence. It is not mentioned in the Court's opinion because, I assume, a
majority of the Justices intent on reversing believes that incoherence is the lesser
evil. They may be right.
52
Petitioner
and the United States contend that there is nothing at all exceptional,
much less unconstitutional, about the Court's adopting prophylactic rules to buttress
constitutional rights, and enforcing them against Congress and the States. Indeed,
the United States argues that "[p]rophylactic rules are now and have been for many
years a feature of this Court's constitutional adjudication." Brief for United States
47. That statement is not wholly inaccurate, if by "many years" one means since the
mid-1960's. However, in their zeal to validate what is in my view a lawless practice,
the United States and petitioner greatly overstate the frequency with which we have
engaged in it. For instance, petitioner cites several cases in which the Court quite
simply exercised its traditional judicial power to define the scope of constitutional
protections and, relatedly, the circumstances in which they are violated. See Loretto
v. Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp., 458 U.S. 419, 436-437 (1982) (holding
that a permanent physical occupation constitutes a per se taking); Maine v. Moulton,
474 U.S. 159, 176 (1985) (holding that the Sixth Amendment right to the assistance
of counsel is actually "violated when the State obtains incriminating statements by
knowingly circumventing the accused's right to have counsel present in a
confrontation between the accused and a state agent").
53
Similarly
unsupportive of the supposed practice is Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S.
123 (1968), where we concluded that the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth
Amendment forbids the admission of a nontestifying co-defendant's facially
incriminating confession in a joint trial, even where the jury has been given a
limiting instruction. That decision was based, not upon the theory that this was
desirable protection "beyond" what the Confrontation Clause technically required;
but rather upon the self-evident proposition that the inability to cross-examine an

available witness whose damaging out-of-court testimony is introduced violates the

Confrontation Clause, combined with the conclusion that in these circumstances a
mere jury instruction can never be relied upon to prevent the testimony from being
damaging, see Richardson v. Marsh, 481 U.S. 200, 207-208 (1987).
54 United States also relies on our cases involving the question whether a State's
The
procedure for appointed counsel's withdrawal of representation on appeal satisfies
the State's constitutional obligation to " `affor[d] adequate and effective appellate
review to indigent defendants.' " Smith v. Robbins, 528 U.S. ---, --- (2000) (slip op.,
at 14) (quoting Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 20 (1956). In Anders v. California,
386 U.S. 738 (1967), we concluded that California's procedure governing
withdrawal fell short of the constitutional minimum, and we outlined a procedure
that would meet that standard. But as we made clear earlier this Term in Smith,
which upheld a procedure different from the one Anders suggested, the benchmark
of constitutionality is the constitutional requirement of adequate representation, and
not some excrescence upon that requirement decreed, for safety's sake, by this Court.
55 a footnote, the United States directs our attention to certain overprotective First
In
Amendment rules that we have adopted to ensure "breathing space" for expression.
See Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 340, 342 (1974) (recognizing that in
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964), we "extended a measure of
strategic protection to defamatory falsehood" of public officials); Freedman v.
Maryland, 380 U.S. 51, 58 (1965) (setting forth "procedural safeguards designed to
obviate the dangers of a censorship system" with respect to motion picture
obscenity). In these cases, and others involving the First Amendment, the Court has
acknowledged that in order to guarantee that protected speech is not "chilled" and
thus forgone, it is in some instances necessary to incorporate in our substantive rules
a "measure of strategic protection." But that is because the Court has viewed the
importation of "chill" as itself a violation of the First Amendment-not because the
Court thought it could go beyond what the First Amendment demanded in order to
provide some prophylaxis.
56
Petitioner
and the United States are right on target, however, in characterizing the
Court's actions in a case decided within a few years of Miranda, North Carolina v.
Pearce, 395 U.S. 711 (1969). There, the Court concluded that due process would be
offended were a judge vindictively to resentence with added severity a defendant
who had successfully appealed his original conviction. Rather than simply announce
that vindictive sentencing violates the Due Process Clause, the Court went on to
hold that "[i]n order to assure the absence of such a [vindictive] motivation, - the
reasons for [imposing the increased sentence] must affirmatively appear" and must
"be based upon objective information concerning identifiable conduct on the part of
the defendant occurring after the time of the original sentencing proceeding." Id., at
726. The Court later explicitly acknowledged Pearce's prophylactic character, see

Michigan v. Payne, 412 U.S. 47, 53 (1973). It is true, therefore, that the case
exhibits the same fundamental flaw as does Miranda when deprived (as it has been)
of its original (implausible) pretension to announcement of what the Constitution
itself required. That is, although the Due Process Clause may well prohibit
punishment based on judicial vindictiveness, the Constitution by no means vests in
the courts "any general power to prescribe particular devices `in order to assure the
absence of such a motivation,' " 395 U.S., at 741 (Black, J., dissenting). Justice
Black surely had the right idea when he derided the Court's requirement as "pure
legislation if there ever was legislation," ibid., although in truth Pearce's rule pales
as a legislative achievement when compared to the detailed code promulgated in
Miranda.1
57 foregoing demonstrates that, petitioner's and the United States' suggestions to
The
the contrary notwithstanding, what the Court did in Miranda (assuming, as later
cases hold, that Miranda went beyond what the Constitution actually requires) is in
fact extraordinary. That the Court has, on rare and recent occasion, repeated the
mistake does not transform error into truth, but illustrates the potential for future
mischief that the error entails. Where the Constitution has wished to lodge in one of
the branches of the Federal Government some limited power to supplement its
guarantees, it has said so. See Amdt. 14, 5 ("The Congress shall have power to
enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article"). The power with
which the Court would endow itself under a "prophylactic" justification for Miranda
goes far beyond what it has permitted Congress to do under authority of that text.
Whereas we have insisted that congressional action under 5 of the Fourteenth
Amendment must be "congruent" with, and "proportional" to, a constitutional
violation, see City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507, 520 (1997), the Miranda
nontextual power to embellish confers authority to prescribe preventive measures
against not only constitutionally prohibited compelled confessions, but also (as
discussed earlier) foolhardy ones.
I58applaud, therefore, the refusal of the Justices in the majority to enunciate this
boundless doctrine of judicial empowerment as a means of rendering today's
decision rational. In nonetheless joining the Court's judgment, however, they
overlook two truisms: that actions speak louder than silence, and that (in judge-made
law at least) logic will out. Since there is in fact no other principle that can reconcile
today's judgment with the post-Miranda cases that the Court refuses to abandon,
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.
IV
Thus, while I agree with the Court that 3501 cannot be upheld without also
59

concluding that Miranda represents an illegitimate exercise of our authority to

review state-court judgments, I do not share the Court's hesitation in reaching that
conclusion. For while the Court is also correct that the doctrine of stare decisis
demands some "special justification" for a departure from longstanding precedenteven precedent of the constitutional variety- that criterion is more than met here. To
repeat Justice Stevens' cogent observation, it is "[o]bviou[s]" that "the Court's power
to reverse Miranda's conviction rested entirely on the determination that a violation
of the Federal Constitution had occurred." Elstad, 470 U.S., at 367, n. 9 (dissenting
opinion) (emphasis added). Despite the Court's Orwellian assertion to the contrary,
it is undeniable that later cases (discussed above) have "undermined [Miranda's]
doctrinal underpinnings," ante, at 14, denying constitutional violation and thus
stripping the holding of its only constitutionally legitimate support. Miranda's critics
and supporters alike have long made this point. See Office of Legal Policy, U.S.
Dept. of Justice, Report to Attorney General on Law of Pre-Trial Interrogation 97
(Feb. 12, 1986) ("The current Court has repudiated the premises on which Miranda
was based, but has drawn back from recognizing the full implications of its
decisions"); id., at 78 ("Michigan v. Tucker accordingly repudiated the doctrinal
basis of the Miranda decision"); Sonenshein, Miranda and the Burger Court: Trends
and Countertrends, 13 Loyola U. Chi. L. J. 405, 407-408 (1982) ("Although the
Burger Court has not overruled Miranda, the Court has consistently undermined the
rationales, assumptions, and values which gave Miranda life"); id., at 425-426
("Seemingly, the Court [in Michigan v. Tucker] utterly destroyed both Miranda's
rationale and its holding"); Stone, The Miranda Doctrine in the Burger Court, 1977
S. Ct. Rev. 99, 118 ("Mr. Justice Rehnquist's conclusion that there is a violation of
the Self-Incrimination Clause only if a confession is involuntary - is an outright
rejection of the core premises of Miranda").
60 Court cites Patterson v. McLean Credit Union, 491 U.S. 164, 173 (1989), as
The
accurately reflecting our standard for overruling, see ante, at 14-which I am pleased
to accept, even though Patterson was speaking of overruling statutory cases and the
standard for constitutional decisions is somewhat more lenient. What is set forth
there reads as though it was written precisely with the current status of Miranda in
mind:
61 cases where statutory precedents have been overruled, the primary reason for the
"In
Court's shift in position has been the intervening development of the law, through
either the growth of judicial doctrine or further action taken by Congress. Where
such changes have removed or weakened the conceptual underpinnings from the
prior decision, - or where the later law has rendered the decision irreconcilable with
competing legal doctrines or policies, - the Court has not hesitated to overrule an
earlier decision." 491 U.S., at 173.
Neither am I persuaded by the argument for retaining Miranda that touts its
62

supposed workability as compared with the totality-of-the-circumstances test it

purported to replace. Miranda's proponents cite ad nauseam the fact that the Court
was called upon to make difficult and subtle distinctions in applying the
"voluntariness" test in some 30-odd due process "coerced confessions" cases in the
30 years between Brown v. Mississippi, 297 U.S. 278 (1936), and Miranda. It is not
immediately apparent, however, that the judicial burden has been eased by the
"bright-line" rules adopted in Miranda. In fact, in the 34 years since Miranda was
decided, this Court has been called upon to decide nearly 60 cases involving a host
of Miranda issues, most of them predicted with remarkable prescience by Justice
White in his Miranda dissent. 384 U.S., at 545.
63
Moreover,
it is not clear why the Court thinks that the "totality-of-the-circumstances
test - is more difficult than Miranda for law enforcement officers to conform to, and
for courts to apply in a consistent manner." Ante, at 14. Indeed, I find myself
persuaded by Justice O'Connor's rejection of this same argument in her opinion in
Williams, 507 U.S., at 711-712 (O'Connor, J., joined by Rehnquist, C. J., concurring
in part and dissenting in part):
64
"Miranda,
for all its alleged brightness, is not without its difficulties; and
voluntariness is not without its strengths- . Miranda creates as many close questions
as it resolves. The task of determining whether a defendant is in `custody' has proved
to be `a slippery one.' And the supposedly `bright' lines that separate interrogation
from spontaneous declaration, the exercise of a right from waiver, and the adequate
warning from the inadequate, likewise have turned out to be rather dim and ill
defined. The totality-of-the-circumstances approach, on the other hand, permits each
fact to be taken into account without resort to formal and dispositive labels. By
dispensing with the difficulty of producing a yes-or-no answer to questions that are
often better answered in shades and degrees, the voluntariness inquiry often can
make judicial decisionmaking easier rather than more onerous." (Emphasis added;
citations omitted.)
65 even were I to agree that the old totality-of-the-circumstances test was more
But
cumbersome, it is simply not true that Miranda has banished it from the law and
replaced it with a new test. Under the current regime, which the Court today retains
in its entirety, courts are frequently called upon to undertake both inquiries. That is
because, as explained earlier, voluntariness remains the constitutional standard, and
as such continues to govern the admissibility for impeachment purposes of
statements taken in violation of Miranda, the admissibility of the "fruits" of such
statements, and the admissibility of statements challenged as unconstitutionally
obtained despite the interrogator's compliance with Miranda, see, e.g., Colorado v.
Connelly, 479 U.S. 157 (1986).
Finally, I am not convinced by petitioner's argument that Miranda should be
66

preserved because the decision occupies a special place in the "public's

consciousness." Brief for Petitioner 44. As far as I am aware, the public is not under
the illusion that we are infallible. I see little harm in admitting that we made a
mistake in taking away from the people the ability to decide for themselves what
protections (beyond those required by the Constitution) are reasonably affordable in
the criminal investigatory process. And I see much to be gained by reaffirming for
the people the wonderful reality that they govern themselves-which means that "
[t]he powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution" that the people
adopted, "nor prohibited - to the States" by that Constitution, "are reserved to the
States respectively, or to the people," U.S. Const., Amdt. 10.2
***
67
68
Today's
judgment converts Miranda from a milestone of judicial overreaching into
the very Cheops' Pyramid (or perhaps the Sphinx would be a better analogue) of
judicial arrogance. In imposing its Court-made code upon the States, the original
opinion at least asserted that it was demanded by the Constitution. Today's decision
does not pretend that it is-and yet still asserts the right to impose it against the will of
the people's representatives in Congress. Far from believing that stare decisis
compels this result, I believe we cannot allow to remain on the books even a
celebrated decision-especially a celebrated decision-that has come to stand for the
proposition that the Supreme Court has power to impose extraconstitutional
constraints upon Congress and the States. This is not the system that was established
by the Framers, or that would be established by any sane supporter of government by
the people.
I69dissent from today's decision, and, until 3501 is repealed, will continue to apply it
in all cases where there has been a sustainable finding that the defendant's confession
was voluntary.

Notes
1

As for Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U.S. 625 (1986), upon which petitioner and
the United States also rely, in that case we extended to the Sixth Amendment,
postindictment, context the Miranda-based prophylactic rule of Edwards v.
Arizona, 451 U.S. 477 (1981), that the police cannot initiate interrogation after
counsel has been requested. I think it less a separate instance of claimed judicial
power to impose constitutional prophylaxis than a direct, logic-driven
consequence of Miranda itself.

The Court cites my dissenting opinion in Mitchell v. United States, 526 U.S.
314, 331-332 (1999), for the proposition that "the fact that a rule has found

`wide acceptance in the legal culture' is `adequate reason not to overrule' it."
Ante, at 13. But the legal culture is not the same as the "public's
consciousness"; and unlike the rule at issue in Mitchell (prohibiting comment
on a defendant's refusal to testify) Miranda has been continually criticized by
lawyers, law enforcement officials, and scholars since its pronouncement (not
to mention by Congress, as 3501 shows). In Mitchell, moreover, the
constitutional underpinnings of the earlier rule had not been demolished by
subsequent cases.