charges of beatings, threats, interference with access to counsel and destruction of legal materials.³ The question, however, was certified for appeal to the Court of Appeals, and is at present awaiting a hearing there. This is a case in which the public interest runs high and which raises grave questions concerning procedures for law enforcement that comport with the Constitution. The need for an immediate, authoritative determination of the prisoners' claims is paramount. It would serve no interest of the public, or of judicial order, for that determination to await the exhaustion of remedies in the lower courts. Miranda is part of a prisoner's bill of rights. In a recent case Miranda was applied where a federal agent questioned a prisoner who was at the time serving a state sentence on a different crime. The Solicitor General argued that Miranda was not applicable to that situation. We disagreed and speaking through Mr. Justice Black, said: 'The Government also seeks to narrow the scope of the Miranda holding by making it applicable only to questioning one who is 'in custody' in connection with the very case under investigation. There is no substance to such as distinction, and in effect it goes against the whole purpose of the Miranda decision which was designed to give meaningful protection to Fifth Amendment rights. We can find nothing in the Miranda opinion which calls for a curtailment of the warnings to be given persons under interrogation by officers based on the reason why the ----------³.The District Court, on October 6, 1971, dismissed the remainder of the prisoners' claims. Were an appeal of these claims presently docketed in the Court of Appeals, I would consolidate them so that the entire case could be disposed of at one time.

person is in custody.' Mathis v. United States, 391 U.S. 1, 4-5, 88 S.Ct. 1503, 20 L.Ed.2d 381. I would treat the application before us as a petition for certiorari, and bring to this Court for summary disposition the entire matter pending in the Court of Appeals. See, e. g., Wilson v. Girard, 354 U.S. 524, 928, 77 S.Ct. 1409, 1390, 1 L.Ed.2d 1544, 1532; Ex parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1, 63 S.Ct. 2, 87 L.Ed. 3. Whitcomb v. Affeldt [92SCt39,404US809,30LEd2d44] 92 S.Ct. 39 404 U.S. 809 30 L.Ed.2d 44 Edgar D. WHITCOMB, Governor of Indiana, etc., et al., appellants, v. Don AFFELDT et al.

Supreme Court of the United States

October 12, 1971