I 

111TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5934 

To declare the sense of Congress that the public safety exception to the 

constitutional requirement for what are commonly called Miranda warnings allows for unwarned interrogation of terrorism suspects, and to 

amend section 3501 of title 18, United States Code, to assure the 

admissibility of certain confessions made by terrorism suspects, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 29, 2010 

Mr. SCHIFF introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To declare the sense of Congress that the public safety 

exception to the constitutional requirement for what are 

commonly called Miranda warnings allows for unwarned 

interrogation of terrorism suspects, and to amend section 

3501 of title 18, United States Code, to assure the 

admissibility of certain confessions made by terrorism 

suspects, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Questioning of Ter3 rorism Suspects Act of 2010’’. 

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

5 The Congress finds the following: 

6 (1) The United States Supreme Court, in New 

7 York v. Quarles, 467 U.S. 649 (1984), determined 

8 that there is an exception to the constitutional re9 quirement for what are commonly called Miranda 

10 warnings in situations posing a threat to public safe11 ty. 

12 (2) Terrorist plots have often consisted of co13 ordinated attacks on multiple targets. 

14 (3) Captured terrorists may be the best and 

15 sometimes only source of intelligence necessary to 

16 prevent pending or planned attacks. 

17 (4) The initial hours and days after capture are 

18 often the most valuable from an intelligence collec19 tion perspective. Due to the complexity of terrorist 

20 plots, an extended interview may be necessary to 

21 procure the information necessary to protect the 

22 public from a pending or planned attack. 

23 (5) Just as courts have held that the public 

24 safety exception established in Quarles exists even 

25 when questioning is designed solely to protect the 

26 lives of police officers, the public safety exception in 


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1 the terrorism context is broad enough to include 

2 questioning necessary to protect the lives of troops 

3 on the battlefield from a pending or planned attack. 

4 (6) Given the nature of international terrorism 

5 investigations, it is often necessary to question cap6 tured terrorists overseas in cooperation with other 

7 countries. 

8 (7) In many cases, the full warnings set out in 

9 Miranda cannot be provided to terrorism suspects in 

10 foreign custody, since the rights referenced in Mi11 randa may not be available to the individual in that 

12 particular country. 

13 SEC. 3. PUBLIC SAFETY EXCEPTION TO MIRANDA RULE IN 

14 TERRORISM INVESTIGATIONS. 

15 It is the sense of Congress that the public safety ex16 ception to the constitutional requirement for what are 

17 commonly called Miranda warnings allows unwarned inter18 rogation of terrorism suspects for as long as is necessary 

19 to protect the public from pending or planned attacks 

20 when a significant purpose of the interrogation is to gath21 er intelligence and not solely to elicit testimonial evidence. 


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1 SEC. 4. ADMISSIBILITY OF CERTAIN CONFESSIONS MADE 

2 DURING TERRORISM INVESTIGATIONS. 

3 (a) INTELLIGENCE GATHERING TO PROTECT THE

4 PUBLIC SAFETY.—Section 3501 of title 18, United States 

5 Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘(f)(1)(A) In the case of an individual who is a ter7 rorism suspect, upon ex parte application made by the 

8 Government within 6 hours immediately following the per9 son’s arrest or other detention, that individual may be 

10 taken before a magistrate not later than 48 hours after 

11 arrest or other detention and any confession made within 

12 those 48 hours shall not be considered inadmissible solely 

13 because the individual was not presented to a magistrate 

14 earlier. 

15 ‘‘(B) Such an application must contain a certification 

16 by the Attorney General or the Deputy Attorney General, 

17 and the Director of National Intelligence or the Principal 

18 Deputy Director of National Intelligence, that— 

19 ‘‘(i) the individual with respect to whom the ap20 plication is made is a terrorism suspect; and 

21 ‘‘(ii) the individual may be able to provide intel22 ligence necessary to protect the public safety. 

23 ‘‘(C) Upon ex parte application, the appropriate judi24 cial officer shall, for good cause shown and subject to such 

25 conditions as that officer may prescribe, extend the time 

26 limitation provided by this subsection for an additional 48 


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1 hours. Such application may be filed in camera and the 

2 court’s order shall be subject to interlocutory appeal. 

3 ‘‘(2) As used in this subsection, the term ‘terrorism 

4 suspect’ means a person suspected of international ter5 rorism or domestic terrorism as those terms are defined 

6 in section 2331.’’. 

7 (b) OVERSEAS TERRORISM INVESTIGATIONS.—It is 

8 the sense of Congress that a confession given during over9 seas questioning of a terrorism suspect in foreign custody 

10 shall not be rendered inadmissible for failure to provide 

11 Miranda warnings, if such confession was voluntarily given 

12 and reliable. 

Æ 


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