A confession:  Many years ago, I was an ultra-left liberal, a Marxist, in fact.  As a newly minted attorney at law in New York, I joined the ACLU and volunteered serve as one of their lawyers.  About six weeks later, they asked me to represent an American Nazi accused of inciting to riot.  I refused.  They were mightily put off, horrified in fact.  They remonstrated.  “But he has a right to counsel.” I said, “Maybe so, but he doesn’t have a right to me.  I’m protected by the Thirteenth Amendment.” (The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude.) I waxed sarcastic.  “It doesn’t protect only former slaves.  It also protects Jewish lawyers.” The ACLU and I parted company over the matter. It took me ten years of mulling over the matter to realize that the right to competent counsel is not the right of the accused.  It is our...(Read Full Article)