Howard v. Webb

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON REHEARING

On rehearing, Petitioners’ contend that the construction we placed on the phrase “treason, felony or breach of the peace” operates to exclude any legitimate function for the constitutional privilege from arrest and renders the privilege a nullity. Petitioners argue that our construction runs contrary to established principles of constitutional interpretation which require language to be construed so as to give it some rational meaning.

In our original decision, this Court followed the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of the phrase “treason, felony…