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[–]iamonlyoneman 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

In America, a person under criminal suspicion has a constitutional right to remain silent, as the Miranda warnings promise. In criminal cases, a suspect’s silence cannot be used as evidence of guilt.

But Ruiz-Cortez’s lawsuit was a civil case. And in civil cases, the federal Constitution allows the jury to assume that when a witness invokes the Fifth Amendment instead of answering a question, it’s because honesty would be a confession.

THIS is the real problem. It's a right or it's not. This halfass recognition of a right to not incriminate yourself because of a paperwork shuffle chaps my ass