Anthony Kennedy

“ Our decision today speaks to the interpretation of a statute, to the requirements of the law, and not to the professional responsibility of the lawyer. Lawyers, like all those who practice a profession, have obligations to their calling which exceed their obligations to the State. Lawyers also have obligations by virtue of their special status as officers of the court. Accepting a court's request to represent the indigent is one of those traditional obligations. ”

“ The lawyer's duty to provide professional assistance to the poor is part of the ancient traditions of the bar long recognized by this Court and the courts of the several States. [4] As Justice Field, then sitting on the California Supreme Court, declared more than a century ago:
" [I] t is part of the general duty of counsel to render their professional services to persons accused of crime, who are destitute of means, upon the appointment of the Court, when not inconsistent with their obligations to others; and for compensation, they must trust to the possible future ability of the parties. ”

“ In my opinion his admission to practice implicitly included an obligation to participate in that program. [7] When a court has established a fair and detailed procedure for the assignment of counsel to indigent litigants, a formal request to a lawyer by the court pursuant to that procedure is tantamount to a command.
In context, I would therefore construe the word "request" in § 1915 (d) as meaning "respectfully command." If that is not what Congress intended, the statute is virtually meaningless. ”