Andy, I agree that courts are legally obligated to follow the Miranda rule (and thus that police officers must usually give suspects Miranda warnings) simply because the Supreme Court has issued its erroneous rulings. I just think it’s worth pointing out that it is not at all clear the Court got the law right at a time when the subject is in the news and the rightness of the decisions is being taken for granted.
I think, for example, that a reasonable reading of Glenn Beck’s comment that not reading the Miranda warnings to Faisal Shahzad would shred the Constitution is that Beck believes that the Constitution requires Miranda warnings–indeed, that it is obvious that it requires them. He’s wrong.
(Paul Cassell, who worked hard to get Miranda effectively overruled, makes the point I complained conservatives weren’t making in the Seattle Times. Thanks to reader E.S. for the pointer.)