414
Blackmun, J., dissenting
In Massey v. Moore, 348 U. S. 105, 108 (1954), for example, the Court ruled that a defendant who had been found competent to stand trial with the assistance of counsel should have been given a hearing as to his competency to represent himself because "[o]ne might not be insane in the sense of being incapable of standing trial and yet lack the capacity to stand trial without benefit of counsel." 2 And in Westbrook v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 150 (1966), the Court reiterated the requirement that the determination of a defendant's competency be tailored to the particular capacity in question, observing: "Although petitioner received a hearing on the issue of his competence to stand trial, there appears to have been no hearing or inquiry into the issue of his competence to waive his constitutional right to the assistance of counsel and proceed, as he did, to conduct his own defense." See also Medina, 505 U. S., at 446-448 (distinguishing between a claim of incompetence and a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity); Riggins, 504 U. S., at 140-144 (Kennedy, J., concurring) (distinguishing between functional competence and competence to stand trial).
Although the Court never has articulated explicitly the standard for determining competency to represent oneself, it has hinted at its contours. In Rees v. Peyton, supra, it required an evaluation of competence that was designed to measure the abilities necessary for a defendant to make a decision under analogous circumstances. In that case, a capital defendant who had filed a petition for certiorari ordered his attorney to withdraw the petition and forgo further legal proceedings. The petitioner's counsel advised the Court that he could not conscientiously do so without a psychiatric examination of his client because there was some doubt as to
2 The majority's attempt to distinguish Massey as a pre-Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U. S. 335 (1963), case, ante, at 399-400, n. 10, is simply irrelevant. For, as the majority itself concedes, Massey stands only for the proposition that the two inquiries are different—competency to stand trial with the assistance of counsel is not equivalent to competency to proceed alone.
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