NACDL News: U.S. Supreme Court Affirms Sixth Amendment Right to Defense Counsel of One’s Choice

In a widely awaited decision concerning the right to counsel and the government’s pretrial seizure of a defendant’s assets, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on March 30, 2016, that a defendant has a Sixth Amendment right to use her own “innocent” property to pay a reasonable fee for the assistance of counsel. The issue arose in Luis v. United States (14-419) when a grand jury charged Sila Luis with paying kickbacks and engaging in other crimes related to health care.