A prophylactic rule is a judicially crafted rule that protects a
constitutional right
A constitutional right can be a prerogative or a duty, a power or a restraint of power, recognized and established by a sovereign state or union of states. Constitutional rights may be expressly stipulated in a national constitution, or they may ...
, by providing consequences for violations of that right, in order to safeguard that constitutional right or improve
detection of violations of that right.
In
United States law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of Codification (law), codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the supreme law is the nation's Constitution of the United States, Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the ...
, an example is the case of ''
Miranda v. Arizona
''Miranda v. Arizona'', 384 U.S. 436 (1966), was a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that law enforcement in the United States must warn a person of their constitutional righ ...
'', which adopted a prophylactic rule ("
Miranda warning
In the United States, the ''Miranda'' warning is a type of notification customarily given by Law enforcement in the United States, police to criminal suspects in police custody (or in a custodial interrogation) advising them of their right t ...
s") to protect the
Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. The
exclusionary rule
In the United States, the exclusionary rule is a legal rule, based on constitutional law, that prevents evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights from being used in a court of law. This may be conside ...
, which restricts
admissibility of evidence in court, is also sometimes considered to be a prophylactic rule. The notion of prophylactic rules is controversial.
U.S. Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that turn on question ...
Justices
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia (March 11, 1936 – February 13, 2016) was an American jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1986 until his death in 2016. He was described as the intellectual an ...
and
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas (born June 23, 1948) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served since 1991 as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. President George H. W. Bush nominated him to succeed Thurgood Marshall. Afte ...
have argued against them, writing that the ability of judges to create these rules "is an immense and frightening antidemocratic power, and it does not exist."
['']Dickerson v. United States
''Dickerson v. United States'', 530 U.S. 428 (2000), upheld the requirement that the Miranda warning be read to criminal suspects and struck down a federal statute that purported to overrule '' Miranda v. Arizona'' (1966).
''Dickerson'' is regar ...
''
530 U.S. 428
(2000) (dissenting opinion).
See also
*
Implied powers
In the United States, implied powers are powers that, although not directly stated in the Constitution, are indirectly given based on expressed powers.
History
When George Washington asked Alexander Hamilton to defend the constitutionality of the ...
*
Judicial activism
Judicial activism is a judicial philosophy holding that courts can and should go beyond the applicable law to consider broader societal implications of their decisions. It is sometimes used as an antonym of judicial restraint. The term usually ...
Footnotes
{{US Constitution
United States constitutional law
American legal terminology
Criminal procedure
Clarence Thomas