Cite as: 535 U. S. 162 (2002)
Stevens, J., dissenting
not establish a constitutional violation, even when the conflict is one about which the trial judge should have known.
The constitutional question must turn on whether trial counsel had a conflict of interest that hampered the representation, not on whether the trial judge should have been more assiduous in taking prophylactic measures. If it were otherwise, the judge's duty would not be limited to cases where the attorney is suspected of harboring a conflict of interest. The Sixth Amendment protects the defendant against an ineffective attorney, as well as a conflicted one. See Strickland v. Washington, 466 U. S. 668, 685-686 (1984). It would be a major departure to say that the trial judge must step in every time defense counsel appears to be providing ineffective assistance, and indeed, there is no precedent to support this proposition. As the Sixth Amendment guarantees the defendant the assistance of counsel, the infringement of that right must depend on a deficiency of the lawyer, not of the trial judge. There is no reason to presume this guarantee unfulfilled when the purported conflict has had no effect on the representation.
With these observations, I join the opinion of the Court.
Justice Stevens, dissenting.
This case raises three uniquely important questions about a fundamental component of our criminal justice system— the constitutional right of a person accused of a capital offense to have the effective assistance of counsel for his defense.1 The first is whether a capital defendant's attorney
1 The Sixth Amendment provides: "In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence." This protection is applicable to state, as well as federal, criminal proceedings. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U. S. 335 (1963). We have long recognized the paramount importance of the right to effective assistance of counsel. United States v. Cronic, 466 U. S. 648, 653-654 (1984) (" 'Of all the rights that an accused person has, the right to be represented by counsel is by far the most pervasive for it affects his ability to assert any other rights he may have' " (citation omitted)).
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