Supreme Court Case: Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)

2341 Words5 Pages

Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) was a landmark case ruled by the Supreme Court that helped ensure American citizens are receiving the rights granted in the Bill of Rights. The importance of this Court case is not its use as a long standing precedent since it was only used as a precedent for a few years before being eclipsed. The true standing of the case comes from its ability to create a foundation from which other cases such as Miranda v. Arizona (1966) were able to be ruled on. The case helped form a true definition for exactly what the Bill of Rights is granting peoples who have been arrested since prior the case many states were disregarding the constitutional protections that citizens were supposed to have. The Sixth Amendment merely states that there is a right to counsel, but the amendment was never clear when exactly the right kicks in. Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) allowed the Supreme Court to finally set the limit that has persisted to this modern day in order to prevent citizens from self-incrimination and inhibit blatant police misconduct. The Bill of Rights is meaningless and empty without the Supreme Court’s judgments and definitions of each word the framers of the constitution carefully selected to put in the document since the states would not be bound to obey it unless the Supreme Court had connected it to the states. The case acted as one of those moments in which the Supreme Court was able to recognize a flaw in the American judicial system and set a precedent that states must obey or else receive repercussions from the United States federal government since they are the top Court in all the land. Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) is a landmark case because it set a constitutional and judicial precedent that create...

... middle of paper ...

...rights granted by the constitution. The decision of the Court displays the role of the activist Court that the Warren Court turned into. As opposed to the Rehnquist Court which is seen as conservative, the Warren Court was much more active and liberal with their interpretation of the constitution. The Rehnquist Court dismissed Escobedo v. Illinois (1964) as a precedent since the Court believed that the right to counsel during interrogation is granted from the Fifth Amendment’s privilege against self-incrimination instead of the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel. However, the Rehnquist Court does not detest the finding of Escobedo v. Illinois (1964); they simply believe that the Sixth Amendment was misinterpreted into proving the right to counsel during interrogation while as it is really the Fifth Amendment that grants the right to counsel during interrogation.

More about Supreme Court Case: Escobedo v. Illinois (1964)

Open Document