Court Opinion

ID: 9427778
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:21:51.896998+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:09.661709
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Marshall,
dissenting.
In my view, the Fifth Amendment’s privilege against compulsory self-incrimination prohibits the Government from requiring a person to provide handwriting exemplars. As I stated in my dissenting opinion in United States v. Mara, 410 U. S. 19, 33 (1973), “I cannot accept the notion that the Government can compel a man to cooperate affirmatively in securing incriminating evidence when that evidence could not be obtained without the cooperation of the suspect.” The Fifth Amendment privilege is rooted in “the basic stream of religious and political principle [,] . . . reflects the limits of the individual’s attornment to the state,” In re Gault, 387 *721U. S. 1, 47 (1967), and embodies the “respect a government— state or federal — must accord to the dignity and integrity of its citizens,” Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436, 460 (1966). I continue to believe, then, that “[i]t is only by prohibiting the Government from compelling an individual to cooperate affirmatively in securing incriminating evidence which could not be obtained without his active assistance, that ‘the inviolability of the human personality’ is assured.” United States v. Mara, supra, at 34—35 (dissenting opinion) (quoting Miranda v. Arizona, supra, at 460).
In order to avoid this constitutional problem, I agree with my Brother Brennan, see ante, p. 719, that 26 U. S. C. § 7602 should be construed not to permit Internal Revenue Service personnel to compel the production of handwriting exemplars. Accordingly, I dissent.