Title: The Paths Not Taken: The Supreme Court's Failures in Dickerson
Abstract: release. Surely, I thought, some glitch in the transmission had eliminated the pages of discussion on the critical issues in the case. Yet, as it became clear that I had received all of the Court's opinion, my incredulity grew. Just six months earlier, the Court had appointed me to defend my victory in the Fourth Circuit, where I had persuaded that court to hold that 18 U.S.C. ? 3501 validly replaced the prophylactic Miranda requirements as the standard for the admissibility of confessions in federal court.' My appointment stemmed from the Justice Department's virtually unprecedented decision to align itself with the criminal defendant it was prosecuting in arguing against admitting his confession. The Department and Dickerson filed briefs urging reversal of the Fourth Circuit, supported by amicus briefs from the ACLU and several other civil rights organizations. I responded with a brief defending the Fourth Circuit's decision, supported by amicus briefs from the United States House of Representatives, leading Senators, seventeen states, and many of the nation's law enforcement officials, prosecutors,