660
Opinion of the Court
suspended jail time." App. 40. By reversing Shelton's suspended sentence, the State informs us, the court also vacated the two-year term of probation. See Brief for Petitioner 6.2
Courts have divided on the Sixth Amendment question presented in this case. Some have agreed with the decision below that appointment of counsel is a constitutional prerequisite to imposition of a conditional or suspended prison sentence. See, e. g., Reilley, 948 F. 2d, at 654; United States v. Foster, 904 F. 2d 20, 21 (CA9 1990); United States v. White, 529 F. 2d 1390, 1394 (CA8 1976). Others have rejected that proposition. See, e. g., Cottle v. Wainwright, 477 F. 2d 269, 274 (CA5), vacated on other grounds, 414 U. S. 895 (1973); Griswold v. Commonwealth, 252 Va. 113, 116-117, 472 S. E. 2d 789, 791 (1996); State v. Hansen, 273 Mont. 321, 325, 903 P. 2d 194, 197 (1995). We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict. 532 U. S. 1018 (2001).
II
Three positions are before us in this case. In line with the decision of the Supreme Court of Alabama, Shelton argues that an indigent defendant may not receive a suspended sentence unless he is offered or waives the assistance of state-appointed counsel. Brief for Respondent 5-27.3 Ala-2 Justice Maddox dissented, stating that Shelton was not constitutionally entitled to counsel because he "received only a suspended sentence and was not incarcerated." App. 41. Justice Maddox also construed the trial record as establishing Shelton's waiver of any right to appointed counsel he might have enjoyed. Ibid.
3 Shelton also urges this Court to overrule Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U. S. 25 (1972), and Scott v. Illinois, 440 U. S. 367 (1979), to the extent those cases do not guarantee a right to counsel "in all cases where imprisonment is an authorized penalty." Brief for Respondent 27-31. We do not entertain this contention, for Shelton first raised it in his brief on the merits. "We would normally expect notice of an intent to make so far-reaching an argument in the respondent's opposition to a petition for certiorari, cf. this Court's Rule 15.2, thereby assuring adequate preparation time for those likely affected and wishing to participate." South Central Bell Telephone Co. v. Alabama, 526 U. S. 160, 171 (1999).
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