The Supreme Court's decision today makes clear that jurisdictions which do not adhere to clear national standards regarding public defense services do so at their own peril. We are proud that the standards developed by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association, regarding the appointment and performance of counsel in death penalty cases have been recognized by the Supreme Court as defining a reasonable and necessary professional standard of performance. These standards were authored by NLADA in 1988 and adopted by the ABA the following year.

Hopefully, jurisdictions all over the country that have not already done so will recognize the wisdom of adopting and enforcing standards to ensure the integrity of their criminal justice processes and avoid unwarranted reversals of criminal convictions.

Likewise, we are pleased that the Court has breathed some life back into the process of federal courts' "habeas corpus" review of state criminal convictions. Though the Maryland Court of Appeals had found that the attorneys' abysmal performance in this case might have been a reasonable "tactical" decision, and many federal courts in recent years have felt compelled to "defer" to such state court rulings under a 1996 congressional law restricting habeas corpus, the Supreme Court today refused to stand idly by and let a state execute a man who almost certainly would not face execution if his attorneys had done their jobs properly. By this ruling, the Court affirms that in the face of a manifest injustice, it will not be a potted plant - the Congress's exhortations to the contrary notwithstanding.

For many decades, NLADA has developed standards regarding public defense systems and the duties required of attorneys in representing persons accused of crimes, and has advised jurisdictions on how to bring their systems into compliance with the standards. There are sets standards written to apply not only to death penalty cases, but to all cases, and to all types of public defense systems.

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The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA), founded in 1911, is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoting all of its resources to advocating equal access to justice for all Americans. NLADA champions effective legal assistance for people who cannot afford counsel, serves as a collective voice for both civil legal services and public defense services throughout the nation and provides a wide range of services and benefits to its individual and organizational members.