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Rothgery v. John Wiley Price: Move to slash Dallas public defender budget couldn't come at worse time

In the wake of Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price's high-profile putsch at the county's public defender office, many in Big D are taking seriously Price's threat to fire large numbers of lawyers, slash the PD office budget, or even eliminate it entirely.His timing couldn't be worse.Sometime soon the US Supreme Court will issue its opinion in Rothgery v. Gillespie County, a Texas case about which oral arguments were heard in March. At issue: Whether the right to counsel attaches at the bail hearing or only upon indictment, as is currently the case?According to briefs before the court (see the Rothgery SCOTUSWiki page), 45 of 50 states already attach the right to counsel at the earlier stage in the process, but not Texas. A majority of justices during oral arguments, led by Justice Kennedy, appeared sympathetic to the plaintiff and inclined to overturn the 5th Circuit (which is becoming sort of a hobby for SCOTUS)...continue to full post

Full post as published by Grits for Breakfast on June 13, 2008 (boomark / email).