02/10/2022
I was reviewing Gideon's Trumpet the 1980 TV film. Required watching for any high school law class covering Gideon vs Wainwright which for those who don't know provides right to an attorney for those who cannot afford one in criminal trials. Back then Abe Fortas was a great lawyer who argued a fair trial could not take place without a defense attorney. The opposing lawyer stated that this would open the doors to socialism and asked what the court would plan to indulge defendants with next. He also argued it was a right of individual states in how they wanted criminal trials adjudicated. The Supreme Court unanimously sided with Fortas who argued that the previous case on the matter Bett's vs Brady should be overturned for the unfair burden it placed on defendants and it's backward step on civil rights.
This got me wondering how would this have played out if the Robert's court heard Gideon vs Wainwright. I think we all know the answer to this question. Republican's have been "law and order" hardliners on defendants (unless you happen to be a capitol storming insurrectionist) and this partisan position would no doubt have filtered down through special interests. All conservatives would have voted against Gideon because it went against ideology and the right to attorney for defendants a dead issue. Afterall the Robert's Court is the same one that just restricted Miranda Rights a long established set of civil rights. The Warren Court was an honored beacon of justice for it's time and defined and expanded the Supreme Court's role in defending civil rights in accordance with constitutional norms. The Robert's court has been the opposite and has shown more than a willingness to abandon civil rights and liberties for special or partisan interests.
Putting this all together I think it's ridiculous that Justice Alito thinks this Supreme Court must be held in as high honor as older courts without having earned it's stature. That it's existence itself proof enough of moral fortitude. If we know they would not have defended the legitimacy that made the legal system we have today then what honor and respect do they think we should have for this corrupted institution?