WASHINGTON, DC – Following today’s decision at the Supreme Court in Villarreal v. Texas, a case in which the Court considered whether a defendant’s constitutional right to assistance of counsel is violated by a court order prohibiting the defendant and his counsel from discussing the defendant’s testimony during a 24-hour recess at a critical stage of his trial, Constitutional Accountability Center Chief Counsel Brianne Gorod issued the following reaction:

The Constitution’s Framers guaranteed in the Sixth Amendment that criminal defendants would have the right to the assistance of counsel, establishing that amendment’s role as a critical safeguard of life and liberty.

Today’s decision from the Supreme Court upholding a court order prohibiting the defendant and his counsel from discussing the defendant’s testimony during a 24-hour recess at a critical stage of his trial undermines that critically important right.

Significantly, though, the Supreme Court made explicit the limits of its decision today.  As the Court explained, “many topics a testifying defendant and his lawyer might discuss during a midtestimony overnight recess remain protected. No less than before or after his testimony, a defendant’s access to advice about trial strategy remains essential to the collaborative enterprise that is criminal defense.”

Trial courts should heed this language before imposing limits on a testifying defendant’s ability to confer with counsel in the future. The failure to do so would do further damage to this bedrock constitutional protection.