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    • Landing Page

    Right to Counsel

    Criminal defendants have a Sixth Amendment right to counsel and that right is guaranteed regardless of the defendant's ability to pay.

    “Of all the rights than an accused person has, the right to be represented by counsel is by far the most pervasive, for it affects his ability to assert any other rights he may have.” United States v. Cronic, 466 U.S. 648 (1984). 

    • Document

    Letter to Senator Booker on the Need to Fund and Support Public Defense Services (July 2016)

    NACDL President Gerry Morris's letter to Senator Cory Booker regarding the need for federal funding and support for public defense services, as proposed in the Equal Justice Under Law Act of 2016 (S. 3144).
    • Document

    Letter to Rep. Sensenbrenner on Public Defense Representation in Capital Cases (March 2003)

    NACDL President Lawrence Goldman's letter to House Judiciary Committee chair Representative Jim Sensenbrenner regarding the Innocence Protection Act of 2001 (H.R. 912).
    • Document

    Letter to Rep. Maloney on the Need to Fund and Support Public Defense Services (February 2017)

    NACDL President Barry Pollack's letter to Representative Sean Patrick Maloney regarding the need for federal funding and support for public defense services, as proposed in the Equal Justice Under Law Act of 2017 (H.R. 968).
    • Document

    Letter to Senator Booker on the Need to Fund and Support Public Defense Services (February 2017)

    NACDL President Barry Pollack's letter to Senator Cory Booker regarding the need for federal funding and support for public defense services, as proposed in the Equal Justice Under Law Act of 2017 (S. 328).
    • Document

    Comments to AG Garland on the Right to Counsel in Criminal Cases in Tribal Courts (June 2021)

    NACDL President Chris Adams’ comments to Attorney General Merrick Garland regarding the need for public defenders and appointed counsel for people facing incarceration in tribal courts, for consideration by the Legal Aid Interagency Roundtable.
    • Document

    Letter to House Appropriations on Federal Grant Funding for Public Defense Initiatives (May 2016)

    Coalition letter to the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies regarding President Barack Obama's request to include in the 2017 federal appropriations bill grant funding for public defense services and support, to continue the "Answering Gideon's Call" initiative.
    • Document

    Letter to NY State Legislature on Proposals to Fully Implement Appellate Rights (May 2021)

    NACDL President Chris Adams' letter to the New York state legislature regarding proposals to truly implement review of excessive sentences, suppression rulings, and streamlining the assignment of counsel in appeals as outlined in A5687/S1280, A5688/S1281, and A5689/S1279, respectively (2021).
    • Content Page

    Urging the Recognition of Right to Counsel at Initial Appearance

    NACDL urges all states and U.S. territories to adopt such constitutional provisions, laws or regulations necessary to guarantee that every accused person, irrespective of financial capacity to engage counsel, shall be guaranteed counsel at the first appearance before a judicial officer at which liberty is at stake or at which a plea of guilty to any criminal charge may be entered. ............
    • Champion Article

    Inside NACDL: Clemency Reform Should Include Access to Clemency Counsel

    Until the Sixth Amendment is understood to provide a right to clemency counsel or legislatures provide for counsel at this stage of the legal process, few avenues exist to secure the assistance of counsel for those with limited resources. People with sufficient income will hire lawyers to help them, but everyone should have the same opportunity.
    • Champion Article

    Drinking from a Poisoned Chalice Post-9/11: Defending the Rule of Law in the Guantanamo Bay Military

    In his Keynote Address at NACDL’s conference in Miami, Brigadier General John G. Baker, head of the Military Commissions Defense Organization (MCDO), shared his views regarding the events that have unfolded at Guantanamo Bay. General Baker, who supervises the defense teams, discussed some of the major issues facing the MCDO defense teams, saying that these issues “shine a light on why lawyering matters and what it truly means to be a criminal defense attorney.”
    • Document

    Three Minute Justice: Haste and Waste in Florida's Misdemeanor Courts

    Nearly a half million people, or approximately three percent of Florida's adults, pass through the state's misdemeanor courts each year. Most are found guilty. The average court appearance lasts as little as three minutes. [Released July 2011]
    • Document

    The Right to Counsel in Indiana: Evaluation of Trial Level Indigent Defense Services

    A report by the Sixth Amendment Center, commissioned by NACDL and supported by the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice and Koch Industries. [Released October 2016]
    • Document

    The Rhode Island Project: A Study of the Rhode Island Public Defender System

    and Attorney Workload Standards

    The Sixth Amendment's promise that every person accused of a crime is entitled to counsel is a hollow one when the attorney appointed lacks the time and resources to provide meaningful representation. In order to determine whether defenders in Rhode Island are facing a caseload crisis, NACDL, the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Legal Aid and Indigent Defendants (ABA SCLAID), and the accounting firm of BlumShapiro undertook an assessment of the Rhode Island Public Defender system ("RIPD"). [Released November 2017]
    • Document

    Summary Injustice: A Look at Constitutional Deficiencies in South Carolina’s Summary Courts

    When a person is accused of a crime, the U.S. Constitution guarantees that person the right to a lawyer even if they cannot afford one. The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed this basic principle more than a half century ago in Gideon v. Wainwright, and in subsequent cases that expanded the right to misdemeanor prosecutions. Yet this right is violated every day in South Carolina’s magistrate and municipal courts – collectively referred to as summary courts – where scores of people are convicted, sentenced, and sometimes incarcerated, without having been represented by counsel. [Released April 2016]