Court Opinion

ID: 9428963
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:25:18.896546+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:16.500002
License: Public Domain

Justice Marshall,
dissenting.
A summary reversal is an exceptional disposition. It should be reserved for situations in which the applicable law is settled and stable, the facts are not disputed, and the decision below is clearly in error.1 Because I do not believe that this is such a case, I dissent.
I
I do not agree that respondent’s consent to the polygraph examination necessarily constituted a waiver of his Fifth Amendment rights with respect to the postexamination interrogation. In my view, this case is not controlled by the footnote in Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U. S. 477, 486, n. 9 (1981), on which the Court relies. That footnote dealt with the hypothetical case, not before the Court in Edwards, of a suspect who initiates a meeting with the police. The Court indicated that, even if the police said or did something in the meeting that constituted interrogation, incriminating statements thereby elicited would be admissible if a knowing and intelligent waiver of the suspect’s Fifth Amendment rights could be inferred in light of “the totality of the circumstances, including the necessary fact that the accused, not the police, reopened the dialogue with the authorities.” Ibid. (Emphasis supplied.)
*51In this case, “the totality of the circumstances” includes the undisputed facts that respondent agreed only to submit to a polygraph examination, and that he was never told he would be subjected to a postexamination interrogation. Moreover, an agreement to submit to a polygraph examination differs in an important respect from the initiation of an ordinary conversation with the authorities. When a suspect commences a conversation with a policeman, he has reason to expect that, as in any conversation, there will be a give-and-take extending beyond the subject matter of his original remarks. It may therefore be appropriate to conclude that the suspect’s waiver of his Fifth Amendment rights extends to the entire conversation. By contrast, a polygraph examination is a discrete test. It has a readily identifiable beginning and end. An individual who submits to such an examination does not necessarily have any reason whatsoever to expect that he will be subjected to a postexamination interrogation.2 While in some cases the prosecution may be able to prove that a suspect knew there would be questioning after the test, here there is “no evidence that Fields or his lawyer anticipated that the CID officer would attempt to elicit incriminating statements from Fields after the examination was run.” 682 F. 2d 154, 160 (CA8 1982).
In any event, I do not believe that this substantial constitutional question should be disposed of summarily. I recog*52nize, of course, that this Court’s expanding docket has increased the pressure to accelerate the disposition process. I cannot agree, however, that summary reversal is proper in a case that involves a significant issue not settled by our prior decisions. If the Court concludes that there are “special and important reasons,” this Court’s Rule 17.1, for granting cer-tiorari but also concludes that this case should not be set for oral argument, the Court should at least give the parties notice that it is considering a summary disposition, so that they may have an opportunity to submit briefs on the merits. See Brown, Foreword: Process of Law, 72 Harv. L. Rev. 77, 94-95 (1958).
II
Today’s decision holds only that the postexamination interrogation did not violate respondent’s Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. The Court’s ruling does not preclude the Court of Appeals from considering on remand whether the interrogation nevertheless violated his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.3 See Massiah v. United *53States, 377 U. S. 201 (1964). Because “the policies underlying the two constitutional protections are quite distinct,” Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U. S. 291, 300, n. 4 (1980), a suspect may waive his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent without waiving his Sixth Amendment right to counsel.
Where only the Fifth Amendment applies, the ultimate question is whether the conduct alleged to constitute a waiver demonstrates that, despite “the compulsion inherent in custodial surroundings,” Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436, 458 (1966), the suspect’s statements were given voluntarily. To make the Fifth Amendment protection against compelled self-incrimination effective, this Court has held that a suspect has a right to have counsel present at any custodial interrogation. Id., at 469-472. Once a suspect in custody asks to speak to a lawyer, he “is not subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police.” Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U. S., at 484-485. When a suspect has indicated that he needs legal advice before deciding whether to talk further, any subsequent statements made at the authorities’ insistence without counsel being present are unlikely to be voluntary. See Michigan v. Mosley, 423 U. S. 96, 110, n. 2 (1975) (White, J., concurring in result). If, on the other hand, the subsequent statements are made in a conversation initiated by the accused, they may well be voluntary. See Edwards v. Arizona, supra, at 486, n. 9. Since the underlying purpose of the privilege against self-incrimination is to prevent the State from coercing an individual to give evidence against himself, it makes sense to find *54a waiver of the privilege where a suspect’s conduct provides assurance that his statements were made voluntarily.
The determination of whether there has been a valid waiver of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel has a different focus, for the values underlying that right are different. The purpose of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel is to provide the defendant with legal assistance during the critical stages of the criminal process. See, e. g., Brewer v. Williams, 430 U. S. 387, 398 (1977); Powell v. Alabama, 287 U. S. 45, 57 (1932). To give effect to this protection, this Court has insisted that the State deal with a defendant through his attorney. Once the State has commenced adversary criminal proceedings against an individual, as Missouri did in this case more than two months before the polygraph examination was held, the Sixth Amendment forbids all efforts to elicit information from him in the absence of counsel, regardless of whether he is in custody, see United States v. Henry, 447 U. S. 264, 273-274, n. 11 (1980); Massiah v. United States, supra, and regardless of whether the technique used to extract information is in any way coercive, see McLeod v. Ohio, 381 U. S. 356 (1965).
To establish a waiver of the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, it is therefore not enough for the State to point to conduct — such as the initiation of a conversation — that demonstrates that the defendant’s statements were made voluntarily. Since a Sixth Amendment violation does not depend upon coercion, the protection of the Sixth Amendment is not waived by conduct that shows only that a defendant's statements were not coerced. The State must show that the defendant intelligently and knowingly relinquished his right not to be questioned in the absence of counsel. The State can establish a waiver only by proving “‘an intentional relinquishment or abandonment’” of the right to have counsel present. Brewer v. Williams, supra, at 404, quoting Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U. S. 458, 464 (1938).4
*55Given the different policies underlying the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, it is not surprising that a number of courts have held that “‘[warnings by law enforcement officers and subsequent action by the accused that might suffice to comply with Fifth Amendment strictures against testimonial compulsion [do] not necessarily meet. . . the higher standard with respect to waiver of the right to counsel that applies when the Sixth Amendment [right to counsel] has attached.’ ” United States v. Mohabir, 624 F. 2d 1140, 1147 (CA2 1980), quoting United States v. Massimo, 432 F. 2d 324, 327 (CA2 1970) (Friendly, J., dissenting) (majority did not reach the issue), cert, denied, 400 U. S. 1022 (1971).5 Today’s decision therefore does not foreclose the Court of Appeals from considering on remand whether the postexamination interrogation violated the Sixth Amendment.

 See generally Brown, Foreword: Process of Law, 72 Harv. L. Rev. 77 (1958).

 Certainly no one would argue that a suspect who consented to a blood test, a lineup, or fingerprinting thereby consented to be questioned about the results of those procedures.
In this case, it is particularly inappropriate to assume that Fields must have realized that the CID agent would conduct a postexamination interrogation. The results of polygraph examinations are inadmissible in Missouri. See State v. Biddle, 599 S. W. 2d 182, 191 (Mo. 1980) (en banc); State v. Weindorf, 361 S. W. 2d 806, 811 (Mo. 1962). When a defendant, after consultation with his attorney, agrees to submit to an examination the results of which are inadmissible, the authorities have no justification for inferring that the defendant has also agreed to submit to additional questioning that can produce admissible evidence.

 1 do not share the majority’s certainty that the Court of Appeals relied “exclusively on the Fifth Amendment.” Ante, at 49. Although the opinion below does discuss Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U. S. 477 (1981), at considerable length, the court phrased its holding in terms of the “right to counsel” without referring specifically to the Fifth Amendment or the Sixth Amendment. See 682 F. 2d 154, 157 (CA8 1982) (“we conclude that Fields did not knowingly and intelligently waive his right to have counsel present at the interrogation”); id., at 161 (“The government has simply introduced no evidence from which we can conclude that when Fields was confronted with the accusatory statement that the ‘lie-detector’ showed he was lying, he waived his right to the protection of counsel in this coercive situation”). See also id., at 161, n. 12 (relying on Brewer v. Williams, 430 U. S. 387 (1977), a Sixth Amendment case). It is noteworthy that the Magistrate, whose report the District Court adopted, pointed to the Sixth Amendment problem by observing that it is “a somewhat empty gesture to appoint an attorney for an accused . . . and then pursue [an] interrogation . . . without his attorney.” In addition, the petition for certiorari asserts that the decision below “expands the rights guaranteed an accused during *53interrogation under the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.” Pet. for Cert. 7 (emphasis supplied).
In any event, since the Court today construes the Court of Appeals’ opinion as resting solely on the Fifth Amendment, the Sixth Amendment issue remains open on remand.

 Edwards v. Arizona, supra, addressed only the standard governing waiver of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. *55Since the Court concluded that Edwards had been interrogated in violation of the Fifth Amendment, it had no occasion to consider whether the Sixth Amendment applied or whether, if so, Edwards had waived its protection. See id., at 480, n. 7.

 See United States ex rel. O’Connor v. New Jersey, 405 F. 2d 632, 636 (CA3), cert. denied, 395 U. S. 923 (1969); Hancock v. White, 378 F. 2d 479, 482 (CA1 1967). See also United States v. Springer, 460 F. 2d 1344, 1354-1355 (CA7) (Stevens, J., dissenting), cert. denied, 409 U. S. 873 (1972); People v. Arthur, 22 N. Y. 2d 325, 330, 239 N. E. 2d 537, 539 (1968). See generally Note, 82 Colum. L. Rev. 363 (1982).