Whose Law is it, Anyway? Note: This is Part 1 of a 3-part series exploring the Power of the People in our system. These are excerpts, adapted for the series, from the new book Law is Not for Lawyers (It’s for Everyone): Empower Yourself with the Basics of Law and Civics. The Preamble of the U.S. Constitution starts with three
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YOUR RIGHT OF THE DAY: If you are charged with a serious crime, and cannot afford an attorney, the government must provide you with a defense attorney free of charge. 1U.S. Constitution, 6th amendment; Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963); Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25 (1972) More specifically, this means low-income people cannot be put in jail without being provided an attorney (usually a “public
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YOUR RIGHT OF THE DAY: After an arrest, if police don’t formally charge you with a crime within a short period of time, they must release you. 1U.S. Constitution, 6th Amendment [Update: Sentence was edited to clarify meaning] You might think there’s no way this kind of thing happens in our society, but in fact officials in the state of Mississippi
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