JUSTICE4ALL

JUSTICE FOR ALL

The Facts

1. The Fifth Amendment says, "No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law."

2. The Sixth Amendment says, "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right...to have the assistance of counsel for his defense."

3. The Fourteenth Amendment says, "no state shall... deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

4. Except for cases involving actual loss of liberty (i.e., commitment to a mental hospital), the Supreme Court has not recognized a constitutional right to a lawyer in civil cases

If you are charged with a crime, facing prison, and unable to afford an attorney, the U.S. Constitution requires that the court appoint one for you. Did you know, though, that in civil cases, where the consequences may be far more devastating than spending a brief time in prison, counsel generally is not guaranteed?

Every day, parents fight to keep their children, and families fight to keep their homes, without a lawyer by their side.

It doesn’t take an expert to know that if you represent yourself against someone who has a lawyer, you will be at a severe disadvantage. As the adage goes, “The man who represents himself has a fool for a lawyer.” The result of such a proceeding frequently is that the unrepresented party cannot present the relevant law and facts, the judge has to decide the case in a vacuum, and the outcome is based more on accident than on a careful weighing of the facts.

A democracy in which the judiciary has primary responsibility for protecting individual rights cannot afford to require low-income people to go without legal counsel in cases in which basic human needs are at stake.