Right to legal counsel

“ For, assuming the correctness of the two latter contentions, we are of the opinion that the undisputed testimony previously summarized shows that when petitioner pleaded guilty, she did not have that full understanding and comprehension of her legal rights indispensable to a valid waiver of the assistance of counsel.
First. The Sixth Amendment guarantees that an accused, unable to hire a lawyer, shall be provided with the assistance of counsel for his defense in all criminal prosecutions in the federal courts. ”

“ Article 12 of the Constitution 4) Any person who is arrested or detained shall have the right to prompt assistance of counsel. When a criminal defendant is unable to secure counsel by his own efforts, the State shall assign counsel for the defendant as prescribed by Act.
Article 1 of the Attorney-at-law Act (Mission of Attorney-at-Law) (1) The mission of an attorney-at-law shall be to defend fundamental human rights and realize the social justice. ”

“ Finally, the Court's "offense-specific" characterization of the constitutional right to counsel ignores the substance of the attorney-client relationship that the legal profession has developed over the years. The scope of the relationship between an individual accused of crime and his attorney is as broad as the subject matter that might reasonably be encompassed by negotiations for a plea bargain or the contents of a presentence investigation report. ”

“ The practical value of argument by paid counsel on both sides is shown in many ways. In the first place, it is well understood in weighing legal precedents that there is little authority in the decision of a court which has been reached without the benefit of the argument of counsel. In some states, courts are required to answer questions from the legislature as to the constitutionality of proposed laws. ”

“ The purpose of the constitutional guaranty of a right to counsel is to protect an accused from conviction resulting from his own ignorance of his legal and constitutional rights, and the guaranty would be nullified by a determination that an accused's ignorant failure to claim his rights removes the protection of the Constitution. True, habeas corpus cannot be used as a means of reviewing errors of law and irregularities-not involving the question of jurisdiction-occurring during the course of trial ”

“ Meanwhile, a legal counsel who is an attorney has an obligation of truth in accordance with the Attorney-at-Law Act, but as a legal counsel's legal advice to a physically restrained person is his right as well as his duty, it shall not be called a violation of a legal counsel's obligation of truth if the legal counsel simply lets an accused or a suspect know that he has the constitutional right to refuse to make a statement, if he does not aggressively make an accused or a suspect deliver a false statement. ”

“ Should it be established that some people have not joined of their own free will or that there have been violations of the legal order, the Counsel shall take whatever decisions he may deem necessary and shall initiate corresponding judicial or administrative action to punish the human rights violations. ”

“ Any person charged with criminal offense without sufficient means to pay for legal counsel shall have the right to a free legal counsel when the interests of justice so require and in compliance with the law. ”

“ IV. If I understand the Attorney-General, the only ground upon which he maintains the validity of the act of 1865, is that the right to be attorneys and counsellors of this court, or of any court of the United States, is not a natural one, but one given by law only; a right to be regulated at any time by law, or not be given at all, or, when given, to be at any time taken away. Without stopping to inquire whether these propositions are correct, I deny, with perfect confidence, that Congress can prohibit the appearance of counsel in the courts of the Union. ”

“ The right to counsel's undivided loyalty is a critical component of the right to assistance of counsel; when counsel is burdened by a conflict of interest, he deprives his client of his Sixth Amendment right as surely as if he failed to appear at trial. ”

“ Without this additional warning, the admonition of the right to consult with counsel would often be understood as meaning only that he can consult with a lawyer if he has one or has the funds to obtain one. The warning of a right to counsel would be hollow if not couched in terms that would convey to the indigent-the person most often subjected to interrogation-the knowledge that he too has a right to have counsel present. ”

“ Does not a fair trial also involve the right of the citizen to have the aid of a counsel?
Third. If the defendant is to have the aid of counsel, can my employment be any more objectionable than the employment of one who is an enemy of the law? ”

“ There also, state law required the appointment of counsel for one on trial for the offense involved.
Those cases, which are the petitioner's chief reliance, do not rule this. The question we are now to decide is whether due process of law demands that, in every criminal case, whatever the circumstances, a State must furnish counsel to an indigent defendant. Is the furnishing of counsel in all cases whatever dictated by natural, inherent, and fundamental principles of fairness? ”

“ Indeed, it has served not to guide but to confuse the courts as to when a person prosecuted by a State for crime is entitled to a lawyer. Little more could be expected, however, of a standard which imposes upon courts nothing more than the perplexing responsibility of appointing lawyers for an accused when a trial judge believes that a failure to do so would be 'shocking to the universal sense of justice.' To be sure, in recent years this Court has been fairly consistent in assuring indigent defendants the right to counsel. ”

“ Essential fairness is lacking if an accused cannot put his case effectively in court. But the Constitution does not force a lawyer upon a defendant. He may waive his Constitutional right to assistance of counsel if he knows what he is doing and his choice is made with eyes open. ”

“ Appellant also asserts that the court's decision to take away his pro se status and to direct back-up counsel to proceed, denied him his right to counsel of his choice. While an accused is constitutionally guaranteed the right to the assistance of counsel that right gives to a defendant only the right to choose, at his or her own cost, any attorney desired. ”

“ Some members of the Court think that where serious offenses are charged, failure of a court to offer counsel in state criminal trials deprives an accused of rights under the Fourteenth Amendment. They are convinced that the services of counsel to protect the accused are guaranted by the Constitution in every such instance. ”

“ If the State may arrest on suspicion and interrogate without counsel, there is no denying the fact that it largely negates the benefits of the constitutional guaranty of the right to assistance of counsel. ”

“ The Constitution is silent upon it. The word 'attorney' is not mentioned, and the word 'counsel' is only mentioned in it as the right of a person accused of crime. It is an act of Congress that creates us and gives us the right to appear here as attorneys and counsellors at law under certain limitations. Congress has imposed very few upon us. Congress very wisely have given to the court the power to receive or to exclude, and to lay down the terms upon which a counsellor shall be admitted. ”

“ For the testimony of all the witnesses points unerringly to the existence of the uncertainty which was obviously just below the surface of the petitioner's statements to the judge.
Fifth. The right to counsel guaranteed by the Constitution contemplates the services of an attorney devoted solely to the interests of his client. ”

“ It would be not only in conflict with the Constitution, but inconsistent with the principles of a free government, that there should exist a power to deny counsel. In a free country, courts without counsel could not for a moment be tolerated. The history of every such government demonstrates that the safety of the citizen greatly depends upon the existence of such a class of men. ”

“ Over the years, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has compiled an exemplary record of effective law enforcement while advising any suspect or arrested person, at the outset of an interview, that he is not required to make a statement, that any statement may be used against him in court, that the individual may obtain the services of an attorney of his own choice, and, more recently, that he has a right to free counsel if he is unable to pay. ”

“ If upon the grounds of public policy and free administration of the law the privilege be extended to judges and witnesses, although they speak maliciously and without reasonable or probable cause, is it not for the benefit of the administration of the law that counsel also should have an entirely free mind? Of the three classes—judge, witness, and counsel—it seems to me that a counsel has a special need to have his mind clear from all anxiety. A counsel’s position is one of the utmost difficulty. ”

“ The right which it confers is something more than a mere license, revocable at the pleasure of the court. It is a right of which they can be deprived only by its judgment for moral or professional delinquency.
The oath which every attorney and counsellor is required to take on his admission briefly expresses his duties. It is substantially this: that he will support the Constitution of the United States, and "conduct himself as an attorney and counsellor of the court uprightly and according to law." ”

“ As he points out, that Rule embodies the practice of the English-speaking world for three centuries or more, based as he properly says upon the belief that, 'The most persuasive counsel may not be able to speak for a defendant as the defendant might, with halting eloquence, speak for himself.' A rule so highly prized for so sound a reason for so long a time deserves to be rigorously enforced by this Court, not merely praised in resounding glittering generalities calculated to soften the blow of nonenforcement. ”