Constitutional Law

Justices To Hear Argument In Right to Counsel Case

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to hear oral argument tomorrow in case involving the parameters of the Sixth Amendment’s right to counsel. Specifically the justices in Montejo v. Louisiana will review a Louisiana Supreme Court ruling that upheld the murder conviction of Jesse Jay Montejo even though his statements regarding the crime were given with no counsel present. The Louisiana high court upheld Montejo’s conviction, claiming that he failed to accept representation before giving his statements about the crime.

The Washington Post in a recent editorial cited court documentation showing that Montejo had actually asked his interrogators for a lawyer. The Post editorial slams the Louisiana ruling for requiring “criminal defendants to independently interject with an acceptance [of counsel] – with no prompting from the judge – or else their silence will be understood as rejecting the appointment.” The newspaper opines that, “This is a ridiculous ruling and should be overturned. Roughly half the states follow a protocol similar to Louisiana’s, where judges order the appointment of counsel to indigents without specifically asking whether they want to a lawyer or not. In an ideal world, judges would query defendants if for no other reason than to be crystal clear about their desire for representation. Commentary from ScotsWiki suggests that, “Based on upon the facts …, it seems likely that he Court in this case will reject the Louisiana” ruling, “which denied petitioner the protections of the Sixth Amendment because he did not affirmatively accept the appointment of counsel.”

The high court will also hear argument in cases involving the Clean Water Act, the right of prisoners to have federally funded counsel during clemency proceedings, the Speedy Trial Act and ineffective counsel in a case involving a plea of insanity. See ScotusBlog for more information about these cases and other court actions this week.   

Full post as published by ACS Blog on January 12, 2009 (boomark / email).