Alfredo Garcia, who has been both a prosecuting and a defense attorney in criminal processes, reviews the United States Supreme Court's interpretations of the Sixth Amendment--the right to a fair trial--as they have evolved since the 1960s. He determines that the Court, with a few notable exceptions, has demonstrated doctrinal inconsistency and has failed to adhere to the core values embedded in the amendment. Garcia argues that the functional and symbolic roles of the Sixth Amendment have been eroded, and that this is particularly evident in the three clauses that provide defendants the...

The Fifth Amendment is typically equated in both popular and legal discourse with the privilege against self-incrimination. This concept, Garcia reminds us, represents an incomplete view of the amendment. Often forgotten are the other two criminal clauses embodied in the text of the amendment: the right to a grand jury indictment for a serious crime and the freedom from double jeopardy for the same offense.

Garcia emphasizes the relationship among these criminal protections. Historical developments suggest that these seemingly disparate provisions have common threads: to provide...