John Paul Stevens

“ Congress intended to "open the United States courts" to impoverished litigants and "to keep pace" with the laws of these " [m] any humane and enlightened States." H.R.Rep. No. 1079, 52d Cong., 1st Sess., 1-2 (1892) . Congress also intended to ensure that the rights of litigants suing diverse parties in the most liberal of these States would not be defeated by the defendant's removal of the suit to federal court. ”

“ An applicant for admission to practice law may justly be deemed to be aware of the traditions of the profession which he is joining, and to know that one of these traditions is that a lawyer is an officer of the court obligated to represent indigents for little or no compensation upon court order. ”

“ United States v. Hvass, 355 U.S. 570, 78 S.Ct. 501, 2 L.Ed.2d 496 (1958) , [3] and to exercise "those powers necessary to protect the functioning of its own processes." Young v. United States ex rel. Vuitton et Fils S.A., 481 U.S. 787, 821, 107 S.Ct. ”

“ Justices Cardozo, Field, and Sutherland all recognized that a court has such power and, at the time § 1915 (d) was enacted, the state courts routinely appointed counsel who were obliged to serve. It is that understanding, against which Congress legislated, rather than any "recent scholarship," ante, at 304, n. 4, that should guide our construction of this statute.↑ " [R] epresentation of indigents under court order, without a fee, is a condition under which lawyers are licensed to practice as officers of the court, and . ”