Court Opinion

ID: 9431405
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-02 23:32:14.147059+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:23:28.351853
License: Public Domain

Justice Blackmun,
dissenting.
I agree with most of what Justice Stevens says in his dissenting opinion, post, p. 301. I, however, merely would hold that after formal adversary proceedings against a defendant have been commenced, the Sixth Amendment mandates that the defendant not be “‘subject to further interrogation by the authorities until counsel has been made available to him, unless the accused himself initiates further communication, exchanges, or conversations with the police.’” Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U. S. 625, 626 (1986), quoting Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U. S. 477, 484-485 (1981).
The Court’s majority concludes, ante, at 290-291: “The fact that petitioner’s Sixth Amendment right came into existence with his indictment . . . does not distinguish him from the preindictment interrogatee whose right to counsel is in existence and available for his exercise while he is questioned.” I must disagree. “[W]hen the Constitution grants protection against criminal proceedings without the assistance of coun*301sel, counsel must be furnished whether or not the accused requested the appointment of counsel.” Carnley v. Cochran, 369 U. S. 506, 513 (1962) (internal quotations omitted). In my view, the Sixth Amendment does not allow the prosecution to take undue advantage of any gap between the commencement of the adversary process and the time at which counsel is appointed for a defendant.