Justice John Paul Stevens blasts ruling on police questioning suspects

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An angry Justice John Paul Stevens read aloud his disention opinion on a ruling by the suprme court to overturn a previous ruling which which did not allow police to interrogate a defendant once he invoked his right to counsel, a ruling which was written by Stevens in 1886. The Obama administration had asked the court to overturn Michigan v. Jackson, disappointing civil rights and civil liberties groups..." - A.P. At The National Law Journal, Marcia Coyle observed, "The timing and contrast were striking: As President Barack Obama introduced Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the nation as his U.S. Supreme Court nominee, Justice Antonin Scalia, sitting on the high court bench, read parts of a 5-4 decision overruling a 23-year-old precedent on the right to counsel." In his dissention, Stevens said "that contrary to the majority’s assertion, that decision protected “a fundamental right that the court now dishonors.” Ruling in favor of overturning the original opinion was Justice Scalia, Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Anthony M. Kennedy, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. original story - NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/27/us/27scotus.html?_r=1&ref=politics Washington Post http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/26/AR2009052601097.html?hpid=moreheadlines The National Law Journal http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202430979440&As_Nominee_Is_Announced_High_Court_Issues_Police_Interrogation_Ruling_Two_Others