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Page Number: 35.0

18 

GARZA v. IDAHO 

THOMAS, J., dissenting 

and the Judiciary.5  History proves that the States and the
Federal  Government  are  capable  of  making  the  policy
determinations  necessary  to  assign  public  resources  for
appointed counsel.  The Court has acknowledged as much. 
Betts,  316  U. S.,  at  471  (declining  to  extend  the  right  to
counsel  to  the  States  because  “the  matter  has  generally
been  deemed  one  of  legislative  policy”).    Before  the  Court 
decided  Gideon,  the  Court  noted  that  “most  of  the  States 
have by legislation authorized or even required the courts
to assign counsel for the defense of indigent and unrepre-
sented  prisoners.  As  to  capital  cases,  all  the  States  so 
provide.  Thirty-four States so provide for felonies and 28
for misdemeanors.”  Bute, 333 U. S., at 663 (internal quo-
tation  marks  omitted).  It  is  beyond  our  constitutionally 
prescribed  role  to  make  these  policy  choices  ourselves.
Even  if  we  adhere  to  this  line  of  precedents,  our  dubious 
authority  in  this  area  should  give  us  pause  before  we 
extend these precedents further. 

—————— 

5 In  2018,  the  Federal  Government’s  budget  for  defense  counsel  had 
grown  to  more  than  $1  billion.    See  Consolidated  Appropriations  Act, 
2018, Pub. L. 115–141, Div. E, Tit. III, 132 Stat. 348.  And the collateral 
challenges  produced  by  the  Court’s  right-to-counsel  jurisprudence 
consume  much  of  the  federal  courts’  resources.  Cf.  Statistical 
Tables for the Federal Judiciary—June 2018, Table B–7 (for 12-month 
period ending June 30, 2018, roughly 24% of appeals filed in the courts 
of  appeals—8,914  of  37,487—were  categorized  as  “Habeas  Corpus”  or 
“Motions  to  Vacate  Sentence”)  https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-
reports/statistical-tables-federal-judiciary-june-2018 
last  visited 
Feb.  25,  2019);  id.,  Table  C–2  (22,478  of  281,202  cases  filed  in  federal
district court, or roughly 8%). 

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