Deportation, Then and Now

"In March 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that a defendant's 6th Amendment right to counsel — and its implied right to effective counsel — is violated when defense lawyers fail to warn their noncitizen clients that a guilty plea to certain offenses carries a risk of deportation.  Now the court must decide whether that ruling should be applied retroactively to people convicted before it was issued.  Justice and the court's own precedents suggest that it should." - Sandra Hernandez, L.A. Times Editorial, Nov. 7, 2012.