One Change That Could Make American Criminal Justice Fairer
The single most influential job in American criminal justice is one that most people have never heard of: the deputy solicitor general who oversees criminal prosecutions. This is the person in the Office of the U.S. Solicitor General primarily responsible for making the government’s arguments in criminal cases.
Understanding that job, and that person’s role in shaping criminal law in this country, reveals a serious, hidden problem: no equal office exists for the country’s defendants. Over time, that imbalance has worked to undermine the Supreme Court’s acknowledged responsibility to provide “equal justice under law.”
[Stephen Breyer: America’s courts can’t ignore the world]
To see how this plays out, begin with the fact that the Supreme Court is the most important institution—for all practical purposes, the institution—that regulates criminal justice for the nation as a whole. By interpreting the Constitution, the justices set rules for criminal cases at the federal, state, and local levels. If you’ve ever watched
