One can argue that the Boston Marathon bombing was a rare case and a legitimate exception to the rule. There may have been knowledge about an imminent threat, and reading his Miranda rights could have compromised such important information.

Indeed, there is an idea that states cannot intrude upon certain fundamental rights, but none of these are absolute. Free exercise of religion is not an absolute right. Polygamy is not allowed. Free speech is also not an absolute right. Fighting words, imminent danger and obscenity are all curtailments of free speech.

Similarly, Miranda rights are not absolutely guaranteed. They should not be read initially if there is an imminent security threat. If Tsarnaev was read his rights, perhaps he would have kept silent and not given the information about the Times Square plot, or not have shed light on acting alone with his brother. However, carving out an exception is a slippery slope.

A very controversial constitutional moment was in 1977 when the Nazi Party in America decided to march through Skokie, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago populated by Holocaust survivors. The Chicago authorities moved to ban all political demonstrations in public parks. The American Civil Liberties Union defended the right of the Nazi Party to march, their argument being that the principle of free speech supersedes the content of speech.