Media Contact

Meghan Holden, ACLU of Connecticut, media@acluct.org 

June 23, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in Vega v. Tekoh that a person cannot sue a police officer under federal civil rights laws for violating their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by failing to provide a Miranda warning. The national American Civil Liberties Union represented Ernesto Arturo Miranda in the 1966 Miranda v. Arizona case.

The following is a reaction from Dan Barrett, the ACLU of Connecticut’s legal director:

“The warnings mandated in Miranda v. Arizona have been a critical means for people to protect themselves when interacting with the police. By denying people the ability to hold cops accountable for violating Miranda, the U.S. Supreme Court today puts us even further away from a world in which people have control over policing. Policing is already a racist and harmful system with nearly unchecked power, and today's decision will further embolden police to harm people.”

For more information about your rights when stopped by the police in Connecticut: https://www.acluct.org/en/know-your-rights/know-your-rights-stopped-police-connecticut