Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution
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Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

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Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution

The Fifth Amendment (Amendment V) to the United States Constitution guarantees several constitutional rights and limits governmental powers with respect to criminal procedure. It was ratified, along with nine other amendments, in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights.

The Supreme Court has extended most, but not all, rights of the Fifth Amendment to the state and local levels. This means that neither the federal, state, nor local governments may deny people most rights protected by the Fifth Amendment. The Court furthered most protections of this amendment through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

One provision of the Fifth Amendment requires that most felonies be tried only upon indictment by a grand jury, which the Court ruled does not apply to the state level. Another provision, the Double Jeopardy Clause, provides the right of defendants to be tried only once in federal court for the same offense. The Self-Incrimination clause provides various protections against self-incrimination, including the right of an individual not to serve as a witness in a criminal case in which he or she is a defendant. "Pleading the Fifth" is a colloquial term often used to invoke the Self-Incrimination Clause when witnesses decline to answer questions where the answers might incriminate them. In the 1966 landmark case Miranda v. Arizona, the Supreme Court held that the Self-Incrimination Clause requires the police to issue a Miranda warning to criminal suspects interrogated while in police custody. The Fifth Amendment also contains the Takings Clause, which allows the federal government to take private property only for public use and only if it provides "just compensation".

Like the Fourteenth Amendment, the Fifth Amendment includes a due process clause stating that no person shall "be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law". The Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause applies to the federal government, while the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause applies to state governments (and by extension, local governments). The Supreme Court has interpreted the Fifth Amendment's Due Process Clause to provide two main protections: procedural due process, which requires government officials to follow fair procedures before depriving a person of life, liberty, or property, and substantive due process, which protects certain fundamental rights from government interference. The Supreme Court has also held that the Due Process Clause contains a prohibition against vague laws and an implied equal protection requirement similar to the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause.

The amendment as proposed by Congress in 1789 and ratified by the states:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

On June 8, 1789, Congressman James Madison introduced several proposed constitutional amendments during a speech to the House of Representatives. His draft language that later became the Fifth Amendment was as follows:

No person shall be subject, except in cases of impeachment, to more than one punishment or trial for the same offense; nor shall be compelled to be a witness against himself; nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor be obliged to relinquish his property, where it may be necessary for public use, without just compensation. ...Except in cases of impeachments, and cases arising in the land or naval forces, or the militia when on actual service, in time of war or public danger ... in all crimes punishable with loss of life or member, presentment or indictment by a grand jury shall be an essential preliminary ...

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