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After reading some of your sources, it doesn't appear to me that anyone was held in contempt for exercising their Fifth Amendment rights. Rather, they seem to h
by ahlatimer 13y ago
After reading some of your sources, it doesn't appear to me that anyone was held in contempt for exercising their Fifth Amendment rights. Rather, they seem to have refused to cooperate with the Grand Jury at all [1]. You can be compelled to cooperate with the government to incriminate others so long as you aren't compelled to incriminate yourself.
[1]: Perhaps for good reasons -- it seems people are fighting against what appears to be an over-reach of Grand Juries. But that would just be an example of civil disobedience, which often carries the risk of jail time, not an example of the Fifth Amendment not applying in a Grand Jury hearing.
- steveklabnik 13y agoRight, hence my 'I'm not a lawyer.' I guess I tend to associate 'not incriminate yourself' with 'not talking,' which is not true 100% of the time. Thanks for pointing out this difference. The end result is the same, though, especially given the post I was responding to.
- rayiner 13y agoYou don't have the right to "not talk." You're expected as a citizen to cooperate with the justice system. The 5th amendment protection from testifying against yourself is an exception to this general expectation.