No need to backtrack on rights

THE ARREST OF Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomb suspect, showed the legal system at its best. Authorities employed their standard tools to apprehend and question Shahzad; there were no secret courts, no “black sites,’’ nothing that deprived Shahzad — an American citizen arrested on American soil — of his rights under the US Constitution.

Since then, however, Attorney General Eric Holder has signaled that the Obama administration would consider carving out a new terrorism-related exception to the Miranda rule, the law requiring that suspects be read their rights. Congress would set a sad precedent by passing a law that gives fewer rights to suspects in some cases, such as terrorism cases, than in others.

Under a well-established public-safety exception, authorities can already ask questions that could save lives before reading a suspect his or her Miranda rights. Shahzad was, in fact, questioned for hours before being read his rights. Had there had been other car bombs littered around Manhattan, finding them would have been the police’s highest priority.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2010/05/11/no_need_to_backtrack_on_rights/

they are unconditional

Otherwise they are merely... privileges? Favors? Rights are "trump cards" or they are not rights at all.