VI Amendment: The Right to Counsel

The Bill of Rights is the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution and was established in 1791. Nearly two thirds of the Bill of Rights is geared toward protecting our rights during a criminal proceeding. One such right is the VI Amendment that gives us the right to counsel. We have all heard the Miranda Rights being read whether in person or on television.

"You have the right to an attorney and if you can not afford one, then one will be appointed to you by the courts."

The thing is though is that we actual take that for granted. The reason is though is that this was not always our right under the VI Amendment when it came to the right to counsel. While we did have the right to counsel the courts for a very long time did not have to appoint one to us if we could not afford one. If you could not afford an attorney then you just did not get one during any criminal proceedings.

In 1932 this changed slightly though and more in favor of those who could not afford to hire their own counsel. In Powell vs. Alabama, the Supreme Courts ruled that in death penalty cases only that counsel must be provided to what was considered poor people.

Just 6 years later, the Supreme Court would again change the way the VI Amendment protected individuals rights to counsel during a criminal proceeding even if counsel could not be afforded. In Johnson Vs Zerbst, the Supreme Court ruled that counsel must be afforded to poor people for federal felony cases. State felonies did not apply to this new ruling.

It would take another 4 years for state cases to be included into this protection of rights in the VI Amendment. I942 Betts vs. Brady was when the Supreme Courts ruled that counsel was to be appointed to individuals during non-capital state cases. However, this change came with a stipulation. Counsel only had to be afforded during state cases that were non-capital cases for those that were handicapped with mental retardation or mental illness.

It would be 1963 during Gideon vs. Wainwright that we would finally see the right to counsel the way we know it to be now. It was during this court case that the Supreme Court ruled that counsel must be provided during all federal and state misdemeanors and felonies.

We take our rights and the protect of the Bill of Rights for granted so often. As you can see, the Supreme Court rulings are what have shaped the VI Amendment as well as so many other Amendments into what we know them to be now. It was a long road from 1791 to the present to get the rights that we have now. Our forefathers gave us broad rights under the Bill of Rights within the Constitution. The Supreme Court is what defines the definition of what the rights mean to us.