America's scales of justice are badly unbalanced

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A new study by the Legal Service Corp. found that a staggering 92% of low-income Americans don’t have access to civil lawyers. In nearly 75% of all civil cases, one or both parties are lawyerless.

While the 1963 Supreme Court ruling in Gideon v. Wainwright granted defendants a right to counsel, that only applies to criminal cases. For civil matters — divorces, evictions, immigration, etc. — poor individuals must navigate the system without attorneys.

This inhibits many Americans’ ability to use justice systems and enjoy civil rights. Lacking legal resources, impoverished individuals are forced to defend themselves and are much less likely to have their needs met.

The lack of a right to civil counsel could not persist at a more dangerous time. With Roe v. Wade overturned, 22 states are set to restrict abortion. Enforcement of these bans will almost certainly intrude on privacy. For example, prosecutors may interrogate women about drug use, police may access trash bins to search for alcohol bottles, root through text messages with intimates, or even coerce medical officials. To legally prevent these civil privacy violations, poor women need a right to counsel. After all, very few laypeople understand the complexity of Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. Without lawyers, poor women will be stripped of their right to privacy.

https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-unbalanced-scales-of-justice-20221114-jmy4gbvbsfh4hjbrxfavytunl4-story.html