Slochower v. Board of Education of New York - The Fifth Amendment

In the popular culture, particularly on television, the Fifth Amendment is best-known for its association with persons on trial "taking the Fifth," or refusing to testify against themselves. This right against self-incrimination-- "No person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself"--is just one of the many rights contained in the amendment, which was added to the Constitution along with nine others in the Bill of Rights in 1791.

Among the other significant rights contained in the Fifth Amendment are the prohibition of "double jeopardy," meaning that no one can be tried twice for the same crime. The Fifth Amendment also provides that a civilian accused of a "capital or otherwise infamous crime" has a right to indictment by a grand jury; and it protects citizens from seizure of property "for public use, without just compensation."