We dedicated ourselves to a powerful idea - organic law rather than naked power. There seems to be universal acceptance of that idea in the nation.
Potter StewartRead
To force a lawyer on a defendant can only lead him to believe that the law contrives against him.
Interpretation
Imposing legal representation on someone can create distrust in the legal system.
This quote underscores the idea that when a lawyer is mandated for a defendant, it may foster a sense of alienation or opposition to the legal process. The defendant may view the imposition of legal counsel as a signal that the law is not on their side, potentially leading to a lack of trust and cooperation with the legal proceedings.
In practice
In a legal workshop discussing the rights of defendants, this quote can illustrate the importance of voluntary representation.
We dedicated ourselves to a powerful idea - organic law rather than naked power. There seems to be universal acceptance of that idea in the nation.
Ethics is knowing the difference between what you have a right to do and what is right to do.
A person's mere propinquity to others independently suspected of criminal activity does not give rise to probable cause to search that person.
It must always be remembered that what the Constitution forbids is not all searches and seizures, but unreasonable searches and seizures.
Swift justice demands more than just swiftness.
The 4th Amendment and the personal rights it secures have a long history. At the very core stands the right of a man to retreat into his own home and there be free from unreasonable governmental intrusion.
Statutes authorizing unreasonable searches were the core concern of the framers of the 4th Amendment.
Where the suspect poses no immediate threat to the officer and no threat to others, the harm resulting from the failing to apprehend him does not justify the use of deadly force to do so.
The constitution is either a superior paramount law, unchangeable by ordinary means, or it is on a level with ordinary legislative acts, alterable when the legislature shall please to alter it. It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is. This is the very essence of judicial duty.
The language of the Constitution's guarantee of equal protection of the laws did not change between 1896 and 1954, and it would be very hard to say that the obvious facts on which 'Plessy' was based had changed.
The federal statute is invalid, for no legitimate purpose overcomes the purpose and effect to disparage and injure those whom the state, by its marriage laws, sought to protect in personhood and dignity.
The Sixth Amendment secures to persons charged with crime the right to be tried by an impartial jury reflecting a fair cross-section of the community.
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