Ted Deutch: “At the beginning of this Congress, Members read aloud the Constitution of the United States from the floor of this very…”

“At the beginning of this Congress, Members read aloud the Constitution of the United States from the floor of this very Chamber. That reading, of course, included the Bill of Rights, those first 10 amendments so vital to protecting the individual freedoms of all Americans. Today, I urge my colleagues to support the passage of H. Res. 196, a bipartisan resolution affirming our support for the Sixth Amendment to our Constitution. The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right of all Americans to a fair trial. It also reads, ``In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall . . . have the assistance of counsel for his defence.'' We all agree that the right to counsel for anyone accused of a crime is the foundation of individual liberty. It is essential to the rule of law and the basic principle that, in America, the government cannot take away any citizen's freedom without a fair trial. H. Res. 196 is a bipartisan resolution reaffirming the support of this Congress for the Sixth Amendment right to counsel at a time when this right is too often trampled in our modern-day justice system. Fifty years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized, in the landmark case, Gideon v. Wainwright that access to quality legal representation is essential to a fair trial, and that even Americans too poor to afford an attorney have a right to counsel.…”