United States v. Babbidge

I dissent.

I had thought, until the advent of this opinion, that one accused of crime had an unqualified right to refuse to give testamentary evidence against himself under the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and Article 31, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 USC § 831. However, my brothers now hold this right to be qualified by the need of the Government to perfect its evidence in rebuttal to an accused’s defense of insanity. The door has now been opened to other similar qualifications and I do not perceive how it can be closed short of reversal of this opinion.

The situation which…