Likely that would raise some eyebrows.
The same guy walks into a courtroom and says, “I’ll take the Fifth!”
Well, likely not so much.
Unlike so much else of our Constitution — take the lonely Third Amendment, for example (the one about quartering troops in your home) — the Fifth has entered our consciousness and common lexicon. “I’ll take the Fifth!” is the stuff of movies.
So, um … exactly what is it? What does it say? And, like Stretch Armstrong, how far can it be strained before it snaps?
Let’s first do a little Constitutional geography. The Fifth, not illogically, comes between the Fourth and Sixth amendments. The Fourth deals with the right against unreasonable searches and seizures. The Sixth deals with trial rights (the right to a speedy trial and a jury before one’s peers).