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Taking the fifth. (Oliver North, John Poindexter, Fifth Amendment) (editorial)

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From: The Nation
Date: 19870131
Author:Becker, Craig

Taking the Fifth

The high political drama of the Iran scandal hasforced President Reagan to take a position on a constitutional question that has challenged the nation's most astute legal thinkers: Can public officials assert their constitutional rights and retain their jobs? Defending Lieut. Col. Oliver North and Vice Adm. John Poindexter's use of the Fifth Amendment, Reagan declared: "They have their rights under the Constitution.' Nearly a century ago Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes held to the contrary. A public servant, he said, "may have a constitutional right to talk ...

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