• Home
  • About Off The Grid
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
Saturday, June 14, 2025
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
No Result
View All Result
Off The Grid News
Home Current Events

This Supreme Court Case Soon May Remove Your Right To Hire A Lawyer

by Off The Grid News Staff
in Current Events
Print Print
The Supreme Court Soon May Take Away Your Right To Hire A Lawyer

Image source: Pixabay.com

Share on FacebookShare on XShare on TruthEmail Article
The Supreme Court Soon May Take Away Your Right To Hire A Lawyer
Image source: Pixabay.com

The US Supreme Court could grant prosecutors the power to stop you from using your own money to hire a defense attorney in a major case the justices are considering.

In Luis v. US, the federal government is arguing it has the power to freeze all of a defendant’s assets, including those not earned through crime.

“What the government proposes to do is financially cripple someone before they’ve been convicted, before they’ve had a trial and not allow them to use assets that are theirs to try to match the government in the courtroom,” defense attorney Howard Srebnick told the media, referencing the Nov. 10 oral arguments.

Srebnick is representing Sila Luis, who owns home health care companies and is accused of a scam to defraud Medicare. The US attorney froze all of Luis’s assets, including money not related to the alleged fraud, after it indicted her in 2012, NPR reported. Srebnick contends that deprives Luis of her Sixth Amendment right to counsel by taking away money she could use to hire a defense attorney.

Discover The ONLY Way Back To True Freedom And Liberty In America…

Federal prosecutors contend that Luis would not have enough money to pay restitution to Medicare if she is allowed to use the money to hire a lawyer. Interestingly enough, the government admits that at least part of Luis’s money did not come from the purported scam.

The Sixth Amendment, among other things, guarantees “the right to have the Assistance of Counsel for … defence.”

The justices seemed divided. US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer was skeptical of the government’s argument.

“The principle is that the government, without proving that he’s guilty of any crime beyond a reasonable doubt, can take all of his money,” said US Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer referencing not Luis but a theoretical defendant. “… I’ve never heard of such a principle.”

Breyer added: “And I’m saying it’s pretty hard for me to think in a country which says that before he’s convicted, you have to release him on bail except in unusual circumstances, that nonetheless, you can take all his money away so he can’t hire a lawyer.”

Want To Know About The REAL Constitution And What The Founders Truly Intended?

But Justice Samuel Alito asked tough questions of Srebnick, arguing that if all of the money is spent, there will be no money left for the victims if Luis is convicted.

Image source: Pixabay.com
Image source: Pixabay.com

“Your answer is that the defendant’s right to hire counsel of choice takes precedence over the rights of the victims, and you would say that no matter how strong the proof is?” Alito asked.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, often the swing vote in close cases, wondered what would happen if the government wins the Supreme Court case.

“It seems to me if the government prevails in this case, every state in the union, every locality could say that in the event of … any crime involving bodily injury … that the government is entitled to [freeze assets] even if the consequence is that in most of those cases most people would not be able to afford counsel,” Kennedy said.

Said Chief Justice John Roberts, “This could apply to any law on the books.”

The issue in the Luis case is “tainted” and “untainted” assets. Tainted assets are moneys generated by a crime or property or investments purchased with such funds. Untainted assets are funds people earn though legal activities, such as salaries.

Deputy Solicitor General Michael Dreeben contends that prosecutors have the right to freeze assets in fraud cases because there is no way of knowing how much of a defendant’s money came from the crime.

“This is basically a zero-sum game,” Dreeben told the justices. “Either there will be money available at the end of the case for the victims or the money will have been spent on lawyers.”

Bloomberg columnist Noah Feldman argued that the Founding Fathers would have sided with Luis.

There should be, Feldman said, the “right to an attorney … to create some fairness between a person who’s supposed to be innocent until proven guilty and the all-powerful government.”

“The Founding Fathers never dreamed of appointed counsel, so when they provided a right to an attorney they must’ve meant a right to hire your own,” Feldman wrote. “… [I]t’s frankly shocking that the government can accuse you and then block you from hiring a good lawyer, saddling you instead with a public defender provided and paid for by the government.”

Which side do you favor? Share your thoughts in the section below:

Tired Of Losing Freedoms — And Looking For Another Country? Read More Here.

ShareTweetShareSend

Related Posts

Tulsi Gabbard’s Latest ‘Nuclear Winter’ Alarm and the Gathering Storm

Tulsi Gabbard’s Latest ‘Nuclear Winter’ Alarm and the Gathering Storm

by Bill Heid

Brace for the Massive Event? I have to admit that this whole thing seems a bit odd. Is this a...

Rage for Rent: In The Great Los Angeles Riot Market

Rage for Rent: In The Great Los Angeles Riot Market

by Bill Heid

Blood Money on Craigslist? I saw the ad sometime after midnight—half-asleep, half-mad. On a tip from X, I began scrolling...

Is The Housing Market On The Verge Of Panic?

Is The Housing Market On The Verge Of Panic?

by Bill Heid

A Surplus of Sellers, a Shortage of Buyers The U.S. housing market is showing signs of imbalance, and not in...

Next Post
The Best Places To Live Off-Grid

The Best States In America To Live Off The Grid?

Please login to join discussion

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

How To Grow All The Food You Need On Just Half An Acre

How To Grow All The Food You Need On Just Half An Acre

The New Terrorism Threat That Even Has Off-Gridders Nervous

The New Terrorism Threat That Even Has Off-Gridders Nervous

It’s The End Times… All Over… Again

It’s The End Times… All Over… Again

TRENDING STORIES

  • bubonic plague

    Is Another Bubonic Plague Pandemic On The Horizon?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Waco Fertilizer Plant Explosion & A Look Back On The “Waco Massacre”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Make Yourself 3 Times More Likely To Survive A Heart Attack

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • AI Surveillance Of Shoppers: Walmart’s Newest Tool To Grab Your Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • ‘Apocalyptic’ Microchip Implants Are Here – And Being Inserted Into People’s Hands

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Subscribe to our Insider Newsletter

Huge discounts on off-the-grid gear and life saving supplements.






‘Off The Grid News’ is an independent, weekly email newsletter and website that is crammed full of practical information on living and surviving off the grid. Advice you’ll never hear from the mainstream media.

  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Extreme Survival
  • Survival Gardening
  • Off-Grid Foods
  • Worldview
  • Natural Health
  • Survival Hunting
  • Privacy
  • Financial
  • Current Events
  • Self Defense
  • Home Defense
  • Pain-Free Living
  • Miscellaneous
  • Off Grid Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.

Privacy Policy   Terms & Conditions
No Result
View All Result
  • How-To
  • Grid Threats
  • Survival
  • Gardening
  • Food
  • Worldview
  • Health
  • Privacy
  • Hunting
  • Defense
  • Financial
  • News
  • Misc
  • Videos

© Copyright 2025 Off The Grid News.  All Rights Reserved.