If appeals to irrationality are admissible, then anything goes.
Rulings like today's about what statements are admissible at trial are rarely appealable.
In almost half the 50 states, such tests are admissible in court as evidence.
Rocks and plants are admissible accessories, if used sparingly, but human figures are taboo.
It will also enable judges to better decide which confessions are admissible, simply by watching how they came about.
However, Judge Nancy Edmunds has ruled that statements Abdulmutallab made during those interviews are admissible in the trial.
"The court holds that the Alcotest is scientifically reliable and that its results are admissible in drunk driving prosecutions," the court said in its 6-to-0 ruling.
Goldberg's firm uses a company called Page Vault, which preserves screen shots that capture the date, the time, and the URL, and are admissible in court.
The issue is not whether suspects can be questioned before they are warned of their rights, but rather whether the answers are admissible in court.
But some of his statements are admissible for purposes of sentencing, the prosecution contends, adding that Mr. Ghailani has since admitted that those statements were made voluntarily.
It was immediately clear that for the opponents — the state, Westchester County and several environmental groups — to win the day, they would have to persuade the panel and the regulatory agency itself to reconsider what arguments are admissible.
