A not-so-hypothetical debate at the Constitution Center

Most people, or at least those who still watch Law and Order or other police dramas, can recite pieces of the Miranda warning from memory.

You know the Miranda warning, right? It’s the court-mandated statement in which police tell criminal suspects they have a right to remain silent and the right to an attorney.  

Well, last week, the National Constitution Center on Independence Mall played let’s pretend with the Constitution.  What if Congress passed a law suspending the “Miranda rights” of any person suspected on a terrorism-related charge?

The Center presented that scenario, complete with an imaginary case, to a set of visiting journalists attending the annual session of the Peter Jennings Project for Journalists and the Constitution.  The case involved the bombing of a naval base in San Diego.

You can read the scenario for yourself and play judge in an on-line poll at the Center’s Constitution Daily blog.