Free Republic

The Obama Administration defied a court order to turn over documents the IRS illegally shared with the White House in its political vendetta against 2500 conservative organizations. Secretary of the Treasury Jacob Lew, Obama’s former White House Chief of Staff, maintains that “for us to be compelled to testify against ourselves would violate the the Constitution's Fifth Amendment. And if there's one thing that this Administration will defend to the last it is the inviolability of the Constitution.” The specific clause the Secretary is referring to is the one barring the government from compelling an individual in a criminal case...

Issues: Does a trial court’s rejection of a non-testifying defendant’s request for a no-adverse-influence instruction during the sentencing phase of a capital punishment trial violate that defendant’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination when the defendant has pled guilty to all of the alleged crimes and aggravating circumstances? Oral argument: December 11, 2013 Court below: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

We've all heard about "taking the Fifth." Heck, we only need watch the bureaucrats testifying about their wrongdoings for instructions on how that works. They'll use their Fifth Amendment, and any trick they can think of, to keep from telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Well, "taking the Fifth" is not just reserved for those in government. Citizens also (usually) have a right against self incrimination. In fact, American citizens can use a whole host of such "protections," if they learn to exert their Constitutional authority. For instance, the Ninth Amendment states that: "The enumeration...