Thomas, J., dissenting
and the Judiciary.[1] 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 unrepresented 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 quotation 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.
- ↑ 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/statisticsreports/statistical-tables-federal-judiciary-june-2018 (as last visited Feb. 25, 2019); id., Table C–2 (22,478 of 281,202 cases filed in federal district court, or roughly 8%).
