Final answer:
Defense attorneys are often viewed as 'officers of the court' with duties to the court as well as their clients. The right to an attorney in the U.S. has been expanded from private lawyers to state-paid public defenders for serious or capital offenses. Public defenders, however, face challenges like being overworked and underpaid, which can impact their clients' quality of defense.
Step-by-step explanation:
Scheingold (1984: 155) refers to defense attorneys as 'officers of the court' whose true loyalty is to the court itself and their own relationship with prosecutors and judges. Individuals accused of serious crimes and federal civil cases have a constitutional right to an attorney to ensure a fair trial by an impartial jury, which became a staple in American legal proceedings. Initially, individuals could only hire private lawyers, but landmark cases such as the Scottsboro case of 1932 led to the Supreme Court mandating representation by public defenders for the poor and illiterate charged with capital offenses. This right was successively expanded to all federal courts, state felony cases, and eventually to all cases where jail time could be a punishment.However, issues with the legal representation system include that public defenders are often overworked and underpaid, which affects the quality of defense that a defendant receives. This was highlighted in the case of Gideon's Trumpet, which established the constitutional right to a state-provided lawyer for all individuals accused of a felony. In the case of Glasser v. United States, a defense lawyer's conflict of interest due to representing multiple defendants was deemed a violation of the Assistance of Counsel Clause in the Sixth Amendment.Supreme Court justices are influenced by a long-term vision for maintaining support and integrity for the institution, rather than focusing on short-term decisions. High-profile critics like Felix Frankfurter have also pinpointed how trials can be affected by political passion and public sentiment, as seen in his critique of a 1920s trial.