Cite as: 505 U. S. 437 (1992)
Blackmun, J., dissenting
I
The right of a criminal defendant to be tried only if competent is "fundamental to an adversary system of justice," Drope v. Missouri, 420 U. S. 162, 172 (1975). The Due Process Clause forbids the trial and conviction of persons incapable of defending themselves—persons lacking the capacity to understand the nature and object of the proceedings against them, to consult with counsel, and to assist in preparing their defense. Id., at 171.1 See also Pate v. Robinson, 383 U. S. 375, 378 (1966).
The right to be tried while competent is the foundational right for the effective exercise of a defendant's other rights in a criminal trial. "Competence to stand trial is rudimentary, for upon it depends the main part of those rights deemed essential to a fair trial, including the right to effective assistance of counsel, the rights to summon, to confront, and to cross-examine witnesses, and the right to testify on one's own behalf or to remain silent without penalty for doing so." Riggins v. Nevada, 504 U. S. 127, 139 (1992) (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment). In the words of Professor Morris, one of the world's leading criminologists, incompetent persons "are not really present at trial; they may not be able properly to play the role of an accused person, to recall relevant events, to produce evidence and witnesses, to testify effectively on their own behalf, to help confront hostile witnesses, and to project to the trier of facts a
1 "[I]t is not enough for the district judge to find that the defendant is oriented to time and place and has some recollection of events, but that the test must be whether he has sufficient present ability to consult with his lawyer with a reasonable degree of rational understanding—and whether he has a rational as well as factual understanding of the proceedings against him," Dusky v. United States, 362 U. S. 402 (1960) (internal quotation marks and bracketing omitted); cf. Riggins v. Nevada, 504 U. S. 127, 140-141 (1992) (Kennedy, J., concurring in judgment) (noting distinction between "functional competence" and higher level "competence to stand trial").
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