Ramsey Clark & the right to counsel

loupaulsen at attbi.com loupaulsen at attbi.com
Thu Feb 20 09:18:01 PST 2003



> The dirty secret of most progressive lawyers, except for
> government-appointed defense lawyers, is that they mostly do choose their
> clients, and you can judge a lawyer by the whole array of clients they
> choose to represent.
>
> Big oil companies and union-busting firms deserve the right to counsel as
> well, but I have no respect for their lawyers, even if I would defend their
> clients constitutional right to have a lawyer. But don't mix the right of
> the client to have a lawyer with praise for those who choose to represent
> dispicable clients.
>
> -- Nathan Newman

And yet you would agree, I hope, that the issue in the case may transcend your personal evaluation of the client? A lot of constitutional law has involved unsavory defendants and plaintiffs, no? In the cases of Milosevic and of Ntakirutimana, you have issues of due process and of the legitimacy of the court itself. Of course you may feel that the legitimacy of Clinton-era UN tribunals is so firmly entrenched in law and morality that anyone who challenges them in court is morally culpable, but you should spell out your assumptions. Someone else might believe that there are dangers and inequities in them, and that even if he shared your convictions about the character of Milosevic and the factual guilt of Ntakirutimana, it would still be important to take the case. The same goes for the other examples that Pugliese has dug up.

LP



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