180
Breyer, J., dissenting
concurring opinions suggest that a suspect's ability to invoke his Fifth Amendment right and "refuse any police questioning" offers that suspect adequate constitutional protection. Ante, at 172, n. 2 (majority opinion); see also ante, at 175-176 (Kennedy, J., concurring). But that is not so.
Jackson focuses upon a suspect—perhaps a frightened or uneducated suspect—who, hesitant to rely upon his own unaided judgment in his dealings with the police, has invoked his constitutional right to legal assistance in such matters. See Michigan v. Jackson, 475 U. S., at 634, n. 7 (" 'The simple fact that [a] defendant has requested an attorney indicates that he does not believe that he is sufficiently capable of dealing with his adversaries singlehandedly' ") (quoting People v. Bladel, 421 Mich. 39, 63-64, 365 N. W. 2d 56, 67 (1984)). Jackson says that, once such a request has been made, the police may not simply throw that suspect—who does not trust his own unaided judgment—back upon his own devices by requiring him to rely for protection upon that same unaided judgment that he previously rejected as inadequate. In a word, the police may not force a suspect who has asked for legal counsel to make a critical legal choice without the legal assistance that he has requested and that the Constitution guarantees. See McNeil v. Wisconsin, supra, at 177- 178 ("The purpose of the Sixth Amendment counsel guarantee . . . is to 'protec[t] the unaided layman at critical confrontations' with his 'expert adversary' ") (quoting United States v. Gouveia, 467 U. S. 180, 189 (1984)). The Constitution does not take away with one hand what it gives with the other. See Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U. S., at 344 (Sixth Amendment means that a person charged with a crime need not "face his accusers without a lawyer to assist him"); Michigan v. Jackson, supra, at 633, 635 (presuming "that the defendant requests the lawyer's services at every critical stage of the prosecution" even if the defendant fails to invoke his Fifth Amendment rights at the time of interrogation); cf. Edwards v. Arizona, 451 U. S. 477, 484-485 (1981) (when
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