Book Review

A revolution wrought by judges with the pen is more rare than one carried out by citizens with arms. The Warren Court did make a revolution--"the due process revolution," as the-- author calls it--and it is this transformation in our law that is the subject of Fred Graham's book, The Self-Inflicted Wound. The wound referred to in the title is Miranda v. Arizona,' in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that before the police can interrogate an accused in custody, they must warn him that he is entitled to a lawyer and that anything he says may be used against him in court. The author makes clear his view that the Court in this case went too far in its protection of the rights of criminal defendants.

But, using his experience as a lawyer and as Supreme Court reporter for the New York Times, he has organized and presented the material to enable the reader to make his own reasoned judgment of the Court's actions.