Lawyers are good for something, it appears.
The Supreme Court on June 19 said that defendants found mentally competent to stand trial are not necessarily also competent to represent themselves at the trial. As a result, the Court ruled by a 7-2 vote that states may insist that mentally ill defendants be represented by counsel when “they are not competent to conduct trial proceedings by themselves.” The decision was one of five issued on June 19, leaving 10 cases outstanding for the Court to hand down next week, which is expected to be the Court’s final week before adjourning for the summer. The Court will sit on June 23 and another day next week, as yet unspecified.
