US Supreme Court: Ineffective Counsel Claims Can Be Brought Up At Plea Level

The United States Supreme Court held that criminal defendants have a constitutional right to effective counsel during the plea negotiating stage. The rulings in Lafler v. Cooper and Missouri v. Frye effectively expand the rights of the accused for "what used to be informal and unregulated deal making," according to The New York Times.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote for the majority, which included Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Justice Antonin Scalia dissented because the ruling "opens a whole new boutique of constitutional jurisprudence" that he referred to as "plea-bargaining law" - a point that was acknowledged by the majority.  However, Justice Kennedy said "Criminal justice today is for the most part a system of pleas, not a system of trials...The right to adequate assistance of counsel cannot be defined or enforced without taking account of the central role plea bargaining takes in securing convictions and determining sentences."

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