Court Opinion

ID: 9431662
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:32:53.048617+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:29.571996
License: Public Domain

Justice Kennedy,
concurring.
Our decision today speaks to the interpretation of a statute, to the requirements of the law, and not to the professional responsibility of the lawyer. Lawyers, like all those who practice a profession, have obligations to their calling which exceed their obligations to the State. Lawyers also have obligations by virtue of their special status as officers of *311the court. Accepting a court’s request to represent the indigent is one of those traditional obligations. Our judgment here does not suggest otherwise. To the contrary, it is precisely because our duties go beyond what the law demands that ours remains a noble profession.
I join in full the opinion of the Court.