A person who is arrested without a warrant is entitled to a "prompt" ruling by a judge to determine whether the arrest was lawful. But what does "prompt" mean? Last week the Supreme Court held, in a 5-to-4 vote, that suspects may generally be jailed for as long as 48 hours. While the decision was in line with the court's recent law-and-order tilt, there was a surprise dissenter: conservative Justice Antonin Scalia. Arguing that a 24-hour delay was the constitutional limit, Scalia fumed, "Hereafter a law-abiding citizen wrongfully arrested may be compelled to await the grace of a Dickensian bureaucratic machine...
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